Weekly FOGO Trial – City of Prospect

Starting Thursday, 7 September, City of Prospect will be trialling the weekly collection of the food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bins. During the trial, participating households will have a switch in their bin collections:

• FOGO (green lid) bin will be collected weekly
• The red landfill bin will shift to a fortnightly collection

The recycling bin (yellow lid) will remain as a fortnightly collection.

By switching to a weekly FOGO collection, trial participants will be a part of a more environmentally and economically sustainable waste and recycling service that is better aligned to waste streams and landfill diversion.

The trial will be take place across the Thursday collection day (approx. 1,800 households), including businesses and Multi Unit Dwellings (MUDs).

Trial area (Thursday collection area):

Do you live in the ‘White Zone’?

The trial will take place across the Thursday collection day. Residents currently located in the ‘White Zone’ collection area (shown on the map below) will transition to the same collection cycle as the ‘Grey Zone’. If you live in the ‘White Zone’ (north of Ballville Street, Charlebury Road and Redmond Street) on THURSDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER ONLY, you are entitled to have all 3 bins collected as part of the transition to the new service.

Following this, your collection schedule will be as per the calendar.

FOGO stands for ‘food organics and garden organics’ and is the green-lid bin at home. 

If it grows, it goes in FOGO!  Meaning that anything that grows (or once grew) belongs in the green FOGO bin, mostly importantly food!  

This includes:

• all food waste (including meat, fish, bones, dairy/eggs, fruit, vegetables, and bread), 
• soiled paper products (shredded paper, paper towel, tissues, and pizza boxes), 
• Australian certified compostable packaging (AS4736 or AS5810), 
• all garden organics (e.g. prunings and grass clippings). 

Material placed in the green-lid FOGO bin is collected by East Waste and taken to a Jeffries Soils (a commercial composting facility) where it is turned into compost for growing our food.

Green FOGO vs red landfill – what’s the difference?

Did you know that almost 40% of materials found in most red landfill bins could be placed in the green FOGO bin?
This includes:

• 20% food (loose or in compostable bags)
• 8.7% packaged/bagged food (which could be unpackaged and placed in the green FOGO bin)
• 6.9% garden organics (lawn clippings, leaves, weeds and clippings)
• 3% compostable paper and cardboard (paper bags, pizza boxes, tissues
  and paper towel)

Just 16% of food waste is correctly disposed by residents via organics (green) bins. This means that 84% is being wasted in the red landfill bin or contaminating the yellow recycle bin.

By offering a more frequent FOGO collection, we aim to decrease the amount of recyclable and compostable materials being put in the red landfill bins and provide a more economically sustainable waste collection service.

Because we want to make sure we get it right for City of Prospect’s residents and businesses!

The intent of the trial is to identify and assess a wide range of matters, including:

• community acceptance
• logistical matters
• environmental outcomes
• economic value.

• Gives residents and businesses more bin capacity each fortnight – 860 litres vs 760 litres per fortnight, which is 240L more to place food scraps and garden organics in the green bin. A 13% overall increase in bin disposal capacity.
• Delivers a more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable service than the current offering.
• Provides a more convenient option for recycling food waste.
• Lower landfill volumes and greenhouse gas emissions – reducing food waste is the third biggest action for reversing global warming.
• Reduced payments of the SA Solid Waste Levy and lessen the impact of potential future increases in the levy.
• Increased recycling of food waste via FOGO bins – these materials are sent for composting and used by local farms and gardens to increase the return of nutrients to the soil and reduce irrigation needs.
• Supports local jobs – composting creates 6.1 full time equivalent jobs per 10,000 tonnes of waste, compared to 2.8 for landfill.
• Actively encourages the community to place more food organics in their FOGO bin whilst reducing bin odour.

City of Prospect and East Waste encourage all households and residents to ‘Give weekly FOGO a GoGo!’ before deciding if the new system is right for them. We appreciate it is significant change, but we believe the benefits are well worth it!

Nothing!

We want to make this switch as easy as possible for you. Weekly FOGO collections will become the default service once the trial begins in early September 2023. Households within the trial will receive a letter and welcome pack 2-3 weeks before the weekly FOGO trial begins with more information about the trial.

The caddy can be returned to Payinthi – 128 Prospect Road, Prospect at the Customer Service Desk.

We understand not all households are the same, and the weekly FOGO collection model for City of Prospect will give some choice and flexibility to households if they need a bigger bin. 

We ask that trial households ‘Give Weekly FOGO a GoGo!’ Reducing waste saves you money whilst taking pressure off your rates or rent. To learn how you can reduce waste, please read our helpful waste reduction tips here. If you’re specifically worried about the smell of nappies or other personal hygiene products in your red bin, click here for tips on managing this easily.

If, after a few weeks, you still have capacity or other concerns, contact East Waste on 8347 5111 or email us east@eastwaste.com . Additional capacity requests will be reviewed.

Yes, you can opt-in to the trial and have a green FOGO bin delivered to you and added to Council’s regular waste kerbside collection service.

All landfill bins within the trial area will be collected fortnightly. If required, we can offer a free landfill bin up-size (from 140L to 240L) to provide your business with additional bin space to support the fortnightly collection frequency.

Yes, Council and East Waste can assist with this. Our friendly education staff can visit your premises to deliver training and support to you. Please contact East Waste on 8347 5111 or email: east@eastwaste.com to enquire.

We’d love for you to give the trial a go and we’re here to support you through the trial however we can.

If after a few weeks, you find that you have capacity or other concerns, just give us a call on 8347 5111 or email us at east@eastwaste.com, so we can work out a solution for you.

If you really don’t think this trial is for you right now, you can choose to ‘opt-out’ and remain on the standard three bin service (weekly landfill, fortnightly green FOGO and recycling collections).

We love it too, and yes you can!

If you are interested in helping promote weekly FOGO we would love to have you on board as a FOGO Champion or ‘Binfluencer’. FOGO Champions have their picture on our Council and East Waste’s webpage in a ‘Give Weekly FOGO a GOGO!’ top and the option of appearing on our social media channels in a short 30 second video. 

You will also go into the draw to win a $50 voucher to spend at select City of Prospect businesses.

If you are interested in becoming a FOGO Champion please contact our Environment & Sustainability Officer, Charlotte Wakefield on 8269 5355 or email: admin@prospect.sa.gov.au

For more information on the weekly FOGO collection trial please contact:

• East Waste: 8347 5111 or email east@eastwaste.com
• City of Prospect: Charlotte Wakefield, Environment and Sustainability Officer, 8269 5355 or email: admin@prospect.sa.gov.au

CLICK HERE to download a printable calendar – as provided on page 18 of the welcome pack booklet.

If you have opted-out of the trial, CLICK HERE for your collection calendar.