FEATURED TOPIC – ORGANICS
Getting the most from the FOGO revolution CAPTURE RATE, CONTAMINATION AND COMPOST QUALITY ARE KEY TO MAXIMISING AUSTRALIA’S FOCUS ON FOGO. MRA CONSULTING GROUP’S VIRGINIA BRUNTON AND CARA WATTERS EXPLAIN.
P
erth, Adelaide, Victoria and now all New South Wales households will have Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) collections by 2030. These states are all seeing FOGO diversion as a means of achieving the national target of 80 per cent diversion from landfill by 2030, as well as achieving real greenhouse gas reductions. Tasmania and the ACT are also committed, and individual councils in Queensland are advancing FOGO. Potentially, that’s six million tonnes of FOGO. The outcomes could be 3.6 million tonnes of compost; seven million tonnes less carbon dioxide emissions per year; 40,000 tonnes of carbon in soil and about 8000 new jobs. But how do we make the most of this revolution in FOGO waste management. How do capture the most FOGO possible and deliver the best environmental outcomes? Capture rate, contamination and compost quality are the keys.
CAPTURE RATE The best performing systems capture 98 per cent of available garden organics and more than 85 per cent of the available food waste. They do it with weekly 240L bin FOGO collections; fortnightly (140L or 240L) general waste collections; caddies and caddy liners; and consistent and engaging community education.
58 / WMR / June 2022
Kerbside FOGO capture rate under different bin systems.
Analysis of the 2019-20 NSW Waste and Resource Recovery (NSW WARR) data shows that moving to a fortnightly general waste service can increase kerbside FOGO capture by 10 per cent compared to a weekly general waste service. Along with certain bin configurations, providing liners can also improve food diversion. Less than half of councils supply free caddy liners to their residents. MRA used the NSW WARR data to compare councils with the same bin configuration and the only difference being whether liners are provided (or encouraged). Councils with liners had on average 30 per cent more FOGO captured than those without. Not supplying caddy liners often comes down to cost.
It can cost about $1.5 million each year to supply liners for 100,000 households, however, it is worth considering the long-term savings. MRA’s modelling shows the avoided landfill gate fees from the 30 per cent of additional food waste captured is $3.8 million. Considering additional FOGO processing costs, the liners ultimately result in an annual saving of $400,000.
CONTAMINATION Compared with recycling, people know what FOGO waste is. Contamination tends to come from the use of noncompostable caddy liners. The solution for this is the supply of free compostable caddy liners. This removes accidental contamination
