Town of Bassendean has benefitted from a share in $20 million from the Western Australian Government to support a state-wide introduction of a food organics garden organics (FOGO) kerbside collection service.
The Better Bins Plus: Go FOGO program supports local governments to transition to three-bin FOGO services consisting of a red-lidded bin for general waste, a yellow-lidded bin for co-mingled recycling, and a lime-green lidded bin for food organics and garden organics.
Local governments can apply for up to $25 for each household receiving a three-bin FOGO collection service.
Many Western Australian households already have access to a three-bin system thanks to the previous Better Bins program. However, in most cases, the organics bin is for garden organic waste (GO) only.
Environment Minister, Stephen Dawson, said, “Three-bin FOGO services can make a significant contribution to reducing waste in Western Australia and councils that have introduced FOGO can increase recovery rates to more than 65 percent.
“High performing FOGO services can make a significant contribution to achieving the State’s recycling targets. Recycling also supports around three times more jobs compared to sending a similar amount of waste to landfill.
“In Bunbury, which introduced FOGO services in 2013, the amount of waste sent to landfill has reduced by around 6000 tonnes every year.
Bassendean Town Council introduced the three-bin FOGO kerbside system this month under the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council’s (EMRC) Food organics and garden organics recovery strategy.
Understanding the local context was key in ensuring community engagement that was fit-for-purpose and effective in delivering successful FOGO services in the Town.
Officers from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, the Town of Bassendean and the EMRC collaborated to develop WasteSorted materials for the community education and awareness campaigns ahead of the FOGO rollout.
These include stickers for kitchen caddies, animations (for cinema and social media), shopping centre panel advertising and many more.
Educational materials were also developed to assist residents to improve the sorting of all their waste at home.
