Using FOGO by putting food scraps into your lime green lid bin means that less material is taken to landfill. It’s estimated that up to 40 percent of the material placed in red waste bins is food waste. 

Food scraps are turned into compost at a local facility, and the compost can be used in the production of more food. Organic waste in landfill decomposes and gives off greenhouse gases. Composting the waste prevents this from happening, as well as delivering the nutrients back into the environment.  

There is no additional cost for the introduction of a FOGO bin. While waste collection fees often do increase yearly, the introduction of FOGO is only about the change in how you use your red and green waste bins, it’s not another expense on top of your usual waste service charges. 

Your lime green lid bin can still be used for garden waste and grass clippings. Now you will be able to add in your food scraps, including items that are not easily composted at home, like meat, small bones, shellfish, dairy, and citrus peels.

Bin collections  

Your bins will be collected on the same schedule as usual. The only change is that your food scraps will now go into your green waste bin, freeing up space in your general rubbish red lid bin. Your lime green lid bin will still be collected on the same day as usual. 

Rural properties on the collection route over four hectares are exempt from FOGO collection. 

If you compost at home, you don’t need to start putting food scraps into your FOGO bin if you don’t want to. This service is especially important for those who don’t or are unable to compost food scraps at home and will reduce the overall amount of organic waste going into landfill. 

FOGO Caddies will be available to be picked up at Latrobe City Council HQ and service centres, using your FOGO kitchen caddy coupon. Caddy coupons will be issued in the mail, with information about the new FOGO service. 

You can also use a caddy of your choice, or a plastic container, even an ice cream container, whatever fits best into a suitable place in your kitchen. 

Caddies will not be delivered to households as not every person wants to have one. 

If you want to have a kitchen caddy from Council, you can use the coupon you will receive in the mail and pick one up from council service centres and libraries. You don’t need a special caddy; you can use any container you want to collect scraps. Empty your caddy or container into your lime green lidded FOGO bin regularly to prevent odour build up. 

If you lose your caddy coupon you can pick up a caddy at Council service centres by simply showing some ID such as a driver’s licence or utility bill with proof of your address in Latrobe City. 

Caddies have ventilation holes in the lid allow food scraps inside to dry out, which reduces any odour. The solid base prevents any leakage from the caddy. 

Please don’t put compostable bags in your green waste bin. Even compostable bags take time to break down. They break into small pieces that are very light, and if these are on the outside of a pile being turned into compost, they can be blown away.

If a compostable bag is knotted, the knot won’t break down at all and will remain in the compost.  

Knotted bags will be removed during sorting at the composting facility, because they are potentially a hazard to staff, as the contents cannot be identified. You can keep your caddy clean by emptying it regularly and rinsing it.  

You can keep composting at home just like you do now. FOGO can complement your home composting and make it easier to dispose of items you don’t want in your home compost system, like meat scraps, small bones, dairy and citrus peels. These may attract pests and can take a long time to break down.

In the FOGO system, these materials are chopped up and composted at much higher temperatures, which helps them break down quickly and safely by killing harmful bacteria.

Please don’t put compostable bags or liners in your lime green lid bin. Even compostable bags or liners take time to break down. They break into small pieces that are very light, and if these are on the outside of a pile being turned into compost, they can be blown away. 

If a compostable bag is knotted, the knot won’t break down at all and will remain in the compost.  

Knotted bags will be removed during sorting at the composting facility, because they are potentially a hazard to staff, as the contents cannot be identified. 

You can keep your caddy clean by emptying it regularly and rinsing it. 

This is part of a wider State Government requirement for changes to kerbside bin collections that must be implemented by 1 July 2027.

Research into household waste services has shown that over 40 percent of household waste is organics matter, that could be composted. This new system will reduce the amount of waste going into landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimising costs associated with using landfill.  

What happens to the food and garden waste collected?

The food and garden waste collected is taken to a new purpose-built composting facility, Pinegro, right here in Morwell. At the facility it is checked for contaminants, then composted in specially designed chambers, which create high heat and break down the material quickly. Then it is taken and stockpiled to continue the breakdown process, eventually becoming mature quality compost that can be used to grow more food crops.

There are several things that cannot be placed in your FOGO bin. These include:

• pet waste – pet faeces, animal carcases, kitty litter
• teabags and coffee pods
• packaging labelled as biodegradable, plastic bags, even those labelled as compostable
• fruit stickers and rubber bands
• hazardous chemicals
• Soil and rocks
• treated or painted timber
• large garden waste such as branches over 10 cm wide
• noxious weeds like blackberries, gorse
• liquids – cooking oil, milk
• oyster shells, clam shells
• Compostable bags  

You can collect your food scraps in a container such as an ice cream container, a plastic container or you can collect a FOGO kitchen caddy (7L plastic bucket like container with lid) from the Council. Empty this into your lime green lidded organics bin regularly. 

Keep your lime green lidded FOGO bin in the shade if possible. 

Meat scraps can be stored in the freezer until the night when you put out your food organics and garden organics bin. Then simply add them when you put out the bin. This will prevent them from breaking down and producing odours in your kitchen.

Food leftovers, and vegetables must be removed from any wrappings before being placed in the bin. Soft plastic should go in your red bin. Packaging labelled as compostable should only go into your home compost or your red bin – it doesn’t break down fast enough in the commercial compost facility.

You can collect your food scraps in a container such as an ice cream container, a plastic container or you can collect a kitchen caddy (plastic bucket like container with lid) from the Council. Empty this into your green lidded organics bin regularly.

Meat scraps can be stored in the freezer until the night when you put out your food organics and garden organics organics bin. Then simply add them when you put out the bin. This will prevent them from breaking down and producing odours in your kitchen.

Tea bags contain plastic which does not decompose and can contaminate the final compost product. Coffee pods cannot be added, not even ones labelled compostable.

Tea leaves that are loose, and loose coffee grounds, from filter presses or coffee machines can be added to your FOGO bin.

Compostable packaging is not allowed in your FOGO bin. It will break down in home compost over a long period of time, but the materials in your FOGO bin go through a different, faster process which does not allow enough time for compostable packaging to break down. This can go into your home compost. If you don’t compost at home, this can be placed in your red lid bin.  

You already have a fortnightly garden organics collection service. This is just a change, that allows you to put food waste into this bin, lessening the amount of organics that goes to landfill.

There is no change to any bin collections frequency – your bins will be collected on the same schedule.

Your food caddy should stay with the property if you move house. It is part of the waste service, just as your red, green and yellow lidded bins are. If you have moved into a new property which does not have a caddy present, you can request one (with proof of residency such as a licence or utility bill in your name) from council.