Composting Christmas food scraps has never ‘bin’ so easy

Published on 22 December 2021

Food scraps still account for up to half of the waste being placed in the kerbside rubbish bin for collection in Frankston City.

Food waste placed in the rubbish bin goes straight to landfill, where it breaks down and produces emissions which are harmful to the environment.

The good news is, Frankston City Council is helping residents turn their food waste into compost for Victorian farmers and getting involved is as easy as putting food scraps in your lime-green lidded bin.

Traditionally, this bin was for garden waste only but it has been renamed the FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin and all food waste is welcome.

Locals are embracing Council’s FOGO service, with 11,200 households requesting free kitchen caddies and liners since the service launched in October 2019.

To raise further awareness of the program, Council is launching a 100 per cent electric, waste education vehicle, or ‘FOGO Mobile,’ which will hit the streets early in 2022.

The electric vehicle was provided by Solo Resource Recovery as part of Council’s current kerbside waste collections contract. Frankston City Council Mayor Nathan Conroy was recently lucky enough to take the new wheels for a spin.

Mayor Conroy said: “We hope seeing the FOGO Mobile cruising around promoting the FOGO service, will remind people to put food waste in the garden waste bin.

“The zero emissions, electric education vehicle is charged with 100 percent renewable energy and will feature at Council events and school programs in 2022.

“We tend to throw away a lot of left overs at Christmas time and putting your food scraps in the FOGO bin is honestly the easiest thing you can do to divert waste from landfill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“You don’t even have to use a caddy or liners ─ you can throw your food waste in the bin as is if you like, just be sure to remove any packaging first,” the Mayor said.

Victorians throw out an incredible 250,000 tonnes of food waste each year. You can find out more about our FOGO kerbside collection service, including what can and can't go into your bin, how to order a bin, kitchen caddy and liners for your home here.