A NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) campaign is helping to re-educate the community on organics recycling following a state-wide clarification of its FOGO rules.
The key message for residents is that green bin contents are restricted to food and garden waste, and certified compostable and paper-based caddy bin liners.
Council’s Waste Education Project Officer, Rebecca Bruce said the EPA’s Scrap Together campaign is a good first step to providing the community with updated information.
“One of our biggest challenges is that having started our FOGO journey in 2018, many people already know how to use their green-lid bin,” Ms Bruce said.
“The rules of what is and isn’t allowed in these bins have now changed in the Bega Valley and it’s good to have EPA support with the rollout of their Scrap Together campaign.
“It’s a simple campaign that outlines the importance of the FOGO service and how it’s very effective at reducing large amounts of organic waste going to landfill.
“Contaminants are a key focus of the campaign, which we are very grateful for, because it’s always a key challenge.
“For example, many people know that food scraps go straight in the green bin, but some may not be aware that plastic or even certified compostable food packaging cannot.
“Similarly, many of the things we’ve been told not to compost at home, like citrus, bones and dairy products can go in the green lid bin and be safely processed using our composting facility.”
Ms Bruce said the campaign will enable Council to improve the quality of compost produced using the FOGO service.
“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in producing a high-quality product while keeping thousands of tonnes of food waste away from landfill, but we know with targeted education we can make it even better,” Ms Bruce said.
“The Scrap Together campaign was first piloted in Forbes, Clarence Valley and Kempsey Councils, resulting in an average 10% increase in food waste recovered for recycling.”
EPA Organics Manager Amanda Kane?said the $10,000 allocated to 25 NSW councils to deliver the Scrap Together campaign, includes videos, local media advertising and mailbox drops.
“The NSW Government has allocated $69 million over the next five years to expand FOGO services and help councils in collecting food and garden organics from all NSW households by 2030,” Ms Kane said.
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