Food waste bins to be made mandatory for millions of Aussies

One Australian state has passed legislation* to redirect one million tonnes of food and garden scraps from landfill and turn it into compost each year, amid growing concerns of a “waste crisis.”

With landfill due to reach capacity* in Greater Sydney by 2030, NSW is set to become the first state to introduce a statewide mandate* for Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) recycling.

Under the new laws, FOGO collection services for households would be mandatory* by July 2030, as well as businesses and institutions from July 2026.

Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said NSW had ignored the fact that space at landfills were about to run out for too long.

“We cannot kick this can down the road any longer,” she said.

“The new FOGO laws mean NSW is leading the nation in combating* food waste, becoming the first to mandate this recycling revolution across the state.”

FOGO bins are expected to be rolled out at supermarkets, pubs, cafes, universities, schools, hotels and hospitals.

Large supermarkets would also be required to report on the amounts and types of excess* food donated to charities such as OzHarvest, Second Bite and Foodbank.

A NSW spokesman said the new laws would take pressure off landfill, with organic waste* taking up a third of household red bins.

“It also takes us one step closer to a circular economy* in NSW, where resources are recycled, reused and repurposed,” the spokesman said.

The government said most of the waste would be turned into compost for parks, sporting fields and agriculture.

Ms Sharpe said the legislation was supported by government funding.

“These new laws are backed by $81 million to support councils to move to FOGO by 2030,” she said.

The multimillion-dollar FOGO Fund would help local councils to pay for bins, kitchen caddies and liners, contamination audits*, community education programs and staffing, according to the NSW government.

It also included a $9 million “boost” in funding set aside to pay for bins in buildings like apartment blocks where there are lots of dwellings, a statewide advertising campaign, annual council education campaigns, and a pilot program to “tackle” contamination hotspots using artificial intelligence*.

WASTE MANAGEMENT NATIONWIDE
While NSW will be the first state to mandate FOGO laws, other states and territories across the country have taken various steps to address the problem of household food waste.

According to Compost Connect, the Federal Government has set a National Waste Policy Action Plan to halve food waste by 2030. The plan includes the important step of making FOGO collection available to metropolitan* households and businesses by 2030 – however this is guidance and not law, meaning it’s up to the states and territories to enforce whether or not FOGO is provided.

While some local council areas across the country have taken measures into their own hands, here’s how food waste is being tackled by the other states and territories, according to the Compost Connect site.

Victoria – Victoria has a circular economy plan that aims to greatly reduce the four million tonnes of waste currently being sent to landfill each year with the introduction of a four bin colour coded system, including a FOGO bin. The roll out has already begun with 53 out of 79 councils already adopting a kerbside FOGO service ahead of the 2030 deadline.

Western Australia – All local council areas in Perth and the Peel region have a three bin system that separates FOGO from other waste. The state government helps to fund the collection of FOGO as well as its conversion into compost and its distribution.

Tasmania – Ahead of the pack, the people of Hobart city have been accessing FOGO services since 2019, when all green bins were switched to include food organics as well as garden waste. In 2023 the state government outlined its clear focus on FOGO as a key driver in reducing waste and in 2024 a waste processing plant* paid for by the state and federal governments along with some local councils opened in the northwest. Several regions in Tasmania now have access to a fortnightly FOGO collection service.

Queensland – From 2021-2022, 3000 households took part in a FOGO kerbside collection trial in Townsville, Rockhampton and the Lockyer Valley that was very successful. While the QLD Government set a target to provide organic waste services to 65 per cent of Queenslanders by 2025, just 11 out of 78 local councils currently offer green waste bins with none of these including FOGO services.

South Australia – SA’s strategy has a focus on reducing food waste at the source, through educating residents and businesses as well as encouraging the use of composting. The state also has a strong focus on compostable packaging in food service and retail and aims to reduce food waste by half by 2030 in line with the Federal Government’s guidelines.

ACT – The ACT launched a pilot program for the collection of FOGO from 5000 households across the Territory in 2021 before expanding the program to an extra 1100 homes. A full-Territory rollout is underway and there are also plans to build a large-scale FOGO processing plant in Canberra.

NT – The city of Darwin has a strategy to reduce the kerbside waste going to landfills by half. Additionally, a local Indigenous entrepreneur William “Billy” Feeney has also partnered with the Department of Defence and Veolia to launch EcoMob – a commercial food organics recovery facility that takes the food waste from local military bases and businesses and processes it into compost.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• legislation: the process of making or enacting laws
• capacity: as full as it can get
• mandate: an official order
• mandatory: something that must be done, compulsory by law
• combating: fighting against
• excess: an extra amount of something that isn’t needed
• organic waste: waste from plant matter that can be composted
• circular economy: an economic system based on the reuse of materials in order to reduce waste
• contamination audits: checking waste to make sure there is nothing non-organic in it
• artificial intelligence: machine learning, the ability for computer systems to replicate human intelligence and make informed decisions based on the vast learning of data through programming
• metropolitan: city-based
• processing plant: somewhere where organic waste is turned into compost

EXTRA READING
Why banana prices may go troppo
No Adults Allowed Garden blooms
World-first ‘zero-waste’ flight takes off in Australia

QUICK QUIZ
1. What does FOGO stand for?
2. In what way has NSW led the way in combating food waste, according to Energy Minister Penny Sharpe?
3. How much money is the NSW Government investing in the new laws?
4. Which other states offer a FOGO service?
5. What is the main aim of the Federal Government’s National Waste Policy Action Plan?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Find out about FOGO in your area
Use your research skills to find out about the disposal or recycling of food and green waste where you live. A good place to start is at the website of your local government.

Write to explain what currently happens to organic waste in your area. Try to answer the following questions in your response:

– How do residents dispose of organic waste?

– Is the recycling of organic waste mandatory or optional?

– Is there a cost to households to recycle their organic waste?

– What happens to the organic waste once collected?

– Do you think what you have found out is satisfactory?

– How could the situation be further improved?

Time: allow 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Sustainability

2. Extension
For those who do not have access to organic waste collection through their local government but would like to reduce landfill, possible options are creating their own composting system or keeping a worm farm. Create a simple guide to explain how to get started with one of these options.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Sustainability

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read with Kung Fu punctuation
Pair up with the article between you and stand up to make it easy to demonstrate your Kung Fu punctuation.

Practise reading one sentence at a time. Now read it again, while acting out the punctuation as you read.

Read and act three sentences before swapping with your partner.

Take two turns each.

Now ask your partner to read a sentence out loud while you try and act out the punctuation. Can you keep up? Swap over?

Try acting out two sentences – are you laughing yet?