{"id":11048,"date":"2025-09-09T05:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/11048\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T05:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T05:29:20","slug":"food-and-garden-organic-waste-bin-system-on-verge-of-collapse-across-was-south-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/11048\/","title":{"rendered":"Food and garden organic waste bin system on verge of collapse across WA’s South West"},"content":{"rendered":"

As more Perth councils bring in a third bin for food waste, some of WA’s earliest adopters of the so-called FOGO system are just months away from potentially scrapping the scheme.<\/p>\n

A third bin for food and garden organic waste (FOGO) was rolled out in Bunbury<\/a>, south of Perth, more than 10 years ago and most other South West councils followed suit.<\/p>\n

It was lauded as a “radical” but effective solution<\/a> to the state’s waste woes \u2014 and the WA government vowed to introduce FOGO to all Perth and Peel councils by the end of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many Perth councils have now also rolled out FOGO bins, including Victoria Park, which introduced them just weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the birthplace of FOGO, the waste has been going to landfill for months<\/a> after the Bunbury Harvey Regional Council stopped processing it due to contamination.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, locals in the South West have been using a third, FOGO bin (right). (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

South West councils have been scrambling to find another way to deal with the waste but a recent council tender process failed to find a solution.<\/p>\n

Some local governments including the Shire of Collie, the Shire of Harvey and the Shire of Capel are actively considering scrapping the FOGO system.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

When it was introduced, Bunbury was praised for its state-leading solution to waste. (ABC South West: Kate Stephens)<\/p>\n

‘It’s not working’<\/p>\n

Seven local South West councils are calling on the WA government to urgently intervene.<\/p>\n

Shire of Dardanup President Tyrrell Gardiner said the ideal solution would be a local processing centre, a plan that could cost upwards of $10 million.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tyrrell Gardiner says if there is no solution by Christmas, the council will look at scrapping the FOGO bin. (ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

He said if the council could not find a solution by Christmas, the bins could be removed.<\/p>\n

“We would be getting to 12 months of the FOGO not being handled as we had intended,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The time frame on hoping to get a FOGO solution is rapidly closing and if we don’t get something soon, the third bin will be gone in its current format.<\/p>\n

“We’ve tried it in a format, it’s not working and we’ve got to find another solution or it will go.”<\/p>\n

He said given the tip just outside of Dardanup had long been taking waste from Perth,<\/a> he felt the government should help.<\/p>\n

\"Paddocks<\/p>\n

Dardanup tip takes waste from Perth and other areas in WA. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

A state ‘failure’<\/p>\n

The issue has largely united South West local governments.<\/p>\n

Shire of Capel’s deputy president Sebastian Schiano said it was a disappointing situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when local governments are adopting local FOGO processing and FOGO collection it seems the South West is held with its hands and nowhere to go,” he told the council.<\/p>\n

“That is a state government failure, a failure to deliver viable waste solutions in the South West.”\"A<\/p>\n

There are calls for the WA government to invest in more processing facilities, including in the South West. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n

The WA government said it was committed to the three bin system.<\/p>\n

“FOGO remains an important part of our communities’ move towards a more circular waste economy [and] reducing the amount of waste going to landfill,” Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said.<\/p>\n

“We recognise that some councils have faced challenges and we have been working with them to find solutions.”<\/p>\n

He said the state had offered some money to South West councils for transporting waste.<\/p>\n

Make it work or walk away<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, more and more Perth councils have taken up state government grants and brought in the system.<\/p>\n

The City of Rockingham, which introduced the bins at the end of June, said the rollout was “progressing well” and the rubbish was successfully being processed by contractor Veolia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

In some Perth councils, like the City of Rockingham, FOGO has been “progressing well.” (Suppied: City of Rockingham)<\/p>\n

Others, including WA’s largest council by population, have doubts.<\/p>\n

City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin said council wanted to see the issues dealt with before spending millions rolling out the bins to 250,000 residents.<\/p>\n

“We’re not confident that those processing facilities are able to cater for the volume from the City of Stirling,” he said.\"A<\/p>\n

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

“To put it in perspective, the city’s population is close to the whole of the Northern Territory so it will have significant implications for our waste streams across the state”<\/p>\n

South West Liberal member Steve Thomas said if the state government wanted to see the FOGO system work in Perth and the South West, it needed to “seriously invest”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Steve Thomas says the state’s trial of FOGO has “failed”. (ABC South West WA: Jacqueline Lynch)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“We have been a trial in the South West in terms of FOGO and you would have to say that that trial has failed,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If the state government wants to replicate that failure in the metropolitan area with great big volumes, good luck to them.<\/p>\n

“What they need to do is either progress FOGO across the board and invest in it fully and make it work or walk away from it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As more Perth councils bring in a third bin for food waste, some of WA’s earliest adopters of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[13539,273,13537,13544,13541,111,139,69,13540,4313,147,13543,13538,5013,13542],"class_list":["post-11048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bunbury-harvey-regional-council","tag-environment","tag-fogo","tag-food-and-garden-organic-waste","tag-green-bin","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-red-bin","tag-rubbish-collection","tag-science","tag-south-west-news","tag-three-bin-waste","tag-wa-news","tag-yellow-bin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}