{"id":593161,"date":"2026-04-08T09:58:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593161\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:58:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:58:21","slug":"three-bin-fogo-waste-on-shaky-ground-in-was-south-west-amid-rising-diesel-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593161\/","title":{"rendered":"Three-bin FOGO waste on shaky ground in WA’s South West amid rising diesel prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rising fuel costs could sound the death knell for the so-called FOGO waste system in country Western Australia, despite the three-bin system being lauded as an effective solution to the state’s waste woes.<\/p>\n

A third bin for food and organic waste was rolled out in Bunbury more than 10 years ago, with the food scraps turned into compost for commercial use.<\/p>\n

The WA government wanted to introduce FOGO to all Perth and Peel councils by the end of 2025, as a key part of its 2030 waste strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in Bunbury, the state’s birthplace of FOGO, councillors this week voted to investigate a return to the two-bin system, with one councillor dubbing the system “a failure”.<\/p>\n

\"Residential<\/p>\n

The City of Bunbury was among the first council to adopt the FOGO system. (ABC South West: Bridget McArthur)<\/p>\n

FOGO in trouble<\/p>\n

The FOGO system in the South West has been in serious trouble since the end of 2024<\/a>, with the collapse of local processing seeing thousands of kilograms of rotting waste trucked to landfill each month.<\/p>\n

In February, the state government flagged a $4.5 million lifeline, offering to pay a $95 a tonne rebate for the waste to be sent to Perth.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Food and organics waste in Bunbury is no longer being turned into compost after local processing failed. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night Bunbury councillor Karen Turner urged her colleagues to pull the pin on FOGO, despite the millions sunk into the scheme.<\/p>\n

“FOGO has failed \u2026 we shouldn’t continue a failing strategy,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We tried, we failed, and the right thing to do is stop.”<\/p>\n

The council rejected Cr Turner’s call, and agreed to investigate the viability of paying for the waste to be trucked 200 kilometres to Perth.<\/p>\n

However, Cr Turner’s request to also investigate a potential return to a two-bin system was endorsed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

City of Bunbury mayor Jaysen Miguel says the council is committed to FOGO \u2014 but not at any cost. (ABC South West)<\/p>\n

Bunbury mayor Jaysen Miguel said a decision on the future of FOGO needed to be made in the next few months, noting rising costs.<\/p>\n

Mr Miguel said recent rising costs meant the city had to always consider its budget, and called on the state government to again offer more support.<\/p>\n

“The city has been an early adopter of FOGO \u2014 something we’re proud of,” he said, noting the wide support of the program.<\/p>\n

“Given some of the rising costs we always need to be considerate of our budget.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Miguel noted there had been strong support of FOGO in the community, but said the support was not at any cost.<\/p>\n

“Given there has been rising fuel cost at any time, the cost is expected to be up.”Shire of Harvey rejects rebate<\/p>\n

In the neighbouring Shire of Harvey, the council rejected the state government’s rebate offer at its meeting last month.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Shire of Harvey says the rising cost of diesel makes it unviable to send FOGO to Perth. (Supplied: Shire of Harvey)<\/p>\n

At the time, deputy shire president Craig Carbone said the council would continue to look for a better solution.<\/p>\n

“There’s so much uncertainty around at the moment,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The price of diesel has gone up $1.40 in less than three weeks and we just don’t know what that means in terms of transporting costs alone.”<\/p>\n

More Perth councils bring in FOGO<\/p>\n

While more councils in the metropolitan area have taken up state government grants to bring in FOGO, others continue to have reservations.<\/p>\n

The City of Rockingham introduced the bins last June and said it had been working well.<\/p>\n

A week ago, Perth’s largest local government, the City of Stirling, announced a small scale trial of FOGO for 500 properties in the small suburb of Coolbinia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

City of Stirling mayor Mark Irwin says the council is holding off on bringing in FOGO until it is confident the system works. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mayor Mark Irwin said it would be a controlled trial, before any wider commitment.<\/p>\n

“The City of Stirling is home to 250,000 people,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So if we’re going to do this, we want to make sure we’re doing it right and want to be confident it’s going to work.”<\/p>\n

Unequivocally committed<\/p>\n

Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said the state government remained unequivocally committed to FOGO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It will remain as a key priority of the soon to be released WA Waste Strategy, Beyond WAste 2030,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I increased the funding offer to South West Councils to $4.5 million following consultation and feedback with the councils on how to support continuation of the service while longer-term solutions are developed.”<\/p>\n

He strongly encouraged the Shire of Harvey to reconsider its position on the state government’s offer to assist with the cost of transporting the waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising fuel costs could sound the death knell for the so-called FOGO waste system in country Western Australia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,289597,99,269176,90062,289596,289600,289598,3810,289601,41844,289599,45,227180],"class_list":{"0":"post-593161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bunbury-rubbish","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-city-of-bunbury","13":"tag-fogo","14":"tag-fogo-bins","15":"tag-green-waste-wa","16":"tag-harvey-rubbish","17":"tag-recycling","18":"tag-shire-of-harvey","19":"tag-south-west-news","20":"tag-three-bins","21":"tag-wa-news","22":"tag-waste-collection"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}