Major bin change for thousands of Aussies: 'Exceptional results'
The new bin will be made available to almost 300,000 homes.
Almost 290,000 homes will be gaining an environmentally friendly bin option under a NSW government initiative.
As a result of the recent $6.2 million push, 14 councils in the state will receive funding for FOGO bins — a lime green food organics and garden organics bin.
“In NSW, more than a third of the waste we send to landfill is food, where it rots and generates damaging greenhouse gasses,” Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin said in a statement.
“Now, FOGO is revolutionising household waste. It’s a new service that will let households put food waste into green lid bins with their garden waste, where it will be composted and given a new life, instead of ending up in landfill."
The compost in the FOGO bins will be "used in large scale agriculture, parks or gardens where it can improve soil health and boost yields."
FOGO bins aren't exactly new in the state, with 40 LGA's already having them thanks to programs since 2013, as well as an additional $46 million program since last year. But success in areas like Randwick mean there will now be 56 councils that have them.
“The introduction of FOGO services in Randwick has had exceptional results, preventing more than 26,000 tonnes of food and garden waste from going to landfill in the first 18 months, which is the equivalent of taking at least 9,000 cars off the road," Mr Griffin said in the statement.
For some areas where households have a red (waste), yellow (recycling), green (garden organics) and purple bin (glass), the purple will be taken away and the green bin will be replaced by a FOGO bin.
How will the $6.2 million be divided between councils?
How many bins an LGA gets will depend on their number of households, council rates and the potential cost of education campaigns and trials.
"Councils can use the funding as needed for the purchase of bins and caddies or to conduct audits, trials and education leading to the roll out of a successful weekly FOGO kerbside service," Mr Griffin said.
According to the statement, Muswellbrook Shire Council in the Upper Hunter of NSW has been awarded $62,000 for 6000 households and Cumberland City Council in western Sydney has received $1.8 million for 74,000 households.
What NSW councils will get funding under the new initiative?
A spokesman told Yahoo News Australia which 14 LGA's will benefit from the program.
Cessnock
Newcastle
Cumberland
Inner West
Lithgow
Midland
Murrumbidgee
Muswellbrook
Snowy Monaro
And the other five will receive funding through the Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation that looks after waste collection services for those councils.
Berrigan
Edward River
Federation
Greater Hume
Leeton
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