MELBOURNE INTRODUCES FOGO COLLECTION for high rise residents

City of Melbourne has launched a pilot Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection service for high-rise apartment buildings, making it the first of its kind in Australia.

Around 80 per cent of City of Melbourne residents live in high-rise apartments, making this service a crucial step forward in the municipality’s sustainability goals.

The high-rise pilot is being delivered in partnership with Enrich360 and Eco Guardians, as part of Council’s Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy, which is aiming to divert 90 per cent of waste from landfill by 2030.

Six high-rise buildings have been selected through an expression of interest process to take part in the 12-month pilot, with the pilot designed to meet the individual design and needs of each building.

City of Melbourne Lord Mayor, Sally Capp, said, “We’re proud to be leading the way for FOGO services in Australia by bringing this leading pilot program to new heights for the very first time at this scale.

“Almost 45 per cent of landfill from high-rise apartments is made up of organic waste. We know that getting this number down and finding simple ways to live more sustainably is important to our community.

“By embracing our pilot food organics collection service, Melburnians living in apartments can help us set a new standard for climate action – and significantly reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The service is available to residents of participating apartment buildings six storeys and above – giving more people the opportunity to act more sustainably, reduce waste costs and improve the environment.

This includes access to on-site dehydrators, used to reduce the volume of waste by up to 80 per cent and process organic waste into nutrient-rich organic fertiliser.

The pilot program supports Melbourne’s circular economy by converting fertiliser into high-quality compost for use in parks and gardens across the municipality – improving the health, fertility and productivity of the city’s green spaces.

Residents will also be able to use a portion of fertiliser created in their own gardens, allowing more of the community to reap the benefits.

Portfolio lead of Environment and Heritage portfolios, Rohan Leppert, said, “We’re thrilled to be expanding our FOGO services into high-rise apartments – meaning more Melburnians can put their food waste to good use and create a greener future.

“Transforming organic waste into nutrient-rich compost reduces our environmental footprint, while helping to maintain and improve our city parks and gardens.”

The high-rise trial follows the successful rollout of FOGO collection to more than 23,000 households and low-rise apartments across the municipality. This has seen more than 2,368t of organic waste diverted from landfill.