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FOGO

Standing for Food Organics Garden Organics, FOGO is the organic material which makes up almost half of the waste that goes into our red waste bin, and ultimately ends up at our landfill.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council’s Gatton Landfill is nearing the end of its landfilling capacity and, when landfilling is no longer an option in the Lockyer Valley, Council will be faced with increased transport costs and gate fees to take the waste to a commercial landfill outside the region. These costs will ultimately be passed onto ratepayers, so finding a solution to this problem helps keep costs down for ratepayers.

Council was successful in receiving a $320,000 grant from the Queensland Government to trial a FOGO collection system and obtain data on organics management in Lockyer Valley, to see how much can be diverted from landfill.

The trial which commenced in August 2021 includes approximately 1,000 homes in selected areas across both Gatton and Laidley.

  • The Queensland Government funded the trial to get data on organics management in Lockyer Valley and to see how much can be diverted from landfill.
  • Food and garden organic waste is around half of your household waste stream and it’s a valuable material that can be converted to compost and used to improve soils.

  • FOGO waste is collected by our normal waste contractor, JJ Richards and Sons. It is then delivered to our Gatton Waste Facility where it will go through an aerobic treatment process to create nutrient rich compost.
  • The compost will be used in several different applications throughout the trial to determine the most suitable and valuable option.

As a rule, any waste that comes from a plant or animal can go in your FOGO bin.

The FOGO collection system accepts the following:

  • All garden waste including trimmings, clippings and prunings
  • Meat (including bones)
  • Eggs/eggshells and dairy products
  • Coffee grinds and tea leaves
  • Pasta, bread, rice and cereal
  • Seafood and shells
  • Takeaway food and leftovers
  • Vegetable and fruit scraps
  • Tissues, paper towels, shredded paper
  • Human/pet hair/fur

Pet waste – IMPORTANT NOTES

  • animal waste can go in the FOGO bin so long as it's not bagged, or is bagged in an approved compostable bag or wrapped in newspaper or other compostable material.
  • Soiled newspaper from bird cages can go in, as can kitty litter if it is marked as organic.
  • Please provide your own approved compostable bags to use when walking your dogs IF you want to put the waste in the FOGO bin.

Only COMPOSTABLE bags can be used – look for the word ‘compostable’, or the compostable logo or these certifications: AS 5810, AS 4736, ASTM D6400, and EN13432.

  • The FOGO bin can complement your compost heap as it can take the things that your home compost can’t – like weed seeds, excess lawn clippings and leaves, meat, bones and dairy products.
  • Compost bins need the right blend of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials so if you’ve got excess of one type, you can add it to the green bin, knowing that it will still be composted. Branches that are too thick for the compost heap can also be put in the organics bin.
  • Worms can be fussy eaters and often do not like onions, citrus, eggshells and potato peels. You can put the things they don’t like in the FOGO bin.
  • Chooks are great at turning organic matter into fertilizer. There are some things that chooks won’t eat so they can be put in the FOGO bin.

The households participating in the FOGO trail have their FOGO bin emptied each week and their General Waste (Red) bin and Recycling (Yellow) bins emptied on alternate weeks.

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