City of Bayswater residents are preparing to shift to the new Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) waste sorting system, with kitchen caddy kits hitting households City-wide throughout March and early April.
More than 28,000 kitchen caddies will be delivered to homes throughout the City by Easter. The kits contain a year's supply of compostable kitchen caddy liners, three fridge magnets, a Waste & Recycling Guide and information detailing how and when to start FOGO.
Under the FOGO system, household food scraps and garden organics are placed in the same kerbside bin and reused to create compost, diverting the waste from landfill.
City of Bayswater Mayor Dan Bull said the City was proud to be adopting the FOGO waste management system.
"Under the State Government's Waste Strategy 2030, all local governments in WA will move to the FOGO bin system by 2025, and we're really pleased to be championing the change," he said.
"This simple change will have a significant impact on the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving valuable space in landfill.
"The transition to FOGO is super easy - insert the compostable liner in your caddy and start placing all your food scraps inside.
"You might be surprised by the things you can put in your FOGO bin, such as meat and bones, dairy products, eggshells, kitty litter, pizza boxes and paper towel.
"When you're ready, put your liner and its contents and any other FOGO-friendly items, such as garden waste, into your lime green-lidded bin, instead of your red-lidded general waste bin.
"If you're unsure what goes in each bin, we've provided residents with stickers to place on bins as a useful reminder, and you can also refer to the information in your kitchen caddy.
"Your lime green-lidded bin will become your FOGO bin, and its contents will be collected weekly, while your red-lidded general waste bin and yellow-lidded recycling bin will both be collected fortnightly.
"Up to about half the contents of our red-lidded general waste bins is organic material at the moment, so it makes sense to switch up the green-lidded bin collection to weekly and the red-lidded general waste bin to fortnightly when we move to FOGO.
"Check the letter inside your caddy so you know when we're giving FOGO the green light in your area and when to start using your lime green-lidded bin for all of your kitchen and garden scraps.
"This is a big step towards sustainability for the City.
We're committed to managing waste responsibly and doing our part to protect the environment."
To find out more about FOGO, visit bayswater.wa.gov.au/fogo, email fogo@bayswater.wa.gov.au or speak to the City's waste educators on 9272 0964.