Keep rubbish out of your food and garden organics bin

Councils across Victoria are rolling out food and garden organics (FOGO) bins, so we can make the most of every last scrap. By correctly sorting all your food scraps and garden clippings into your lime green FOGO bin, you help create quality compost for farms and community gardens. But if food packaging and other rubbish go in, the compost becomes contaminated and may go to waste. When organic materials end up in landfill, they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

So make sure to separate your food scraps and garden clippings from rubbish.

Did you know? Around 900,000 tonnes of scraps are collected from household FOGO bins in Victoria every year. That’s enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) more than twice.

How to use your food and garden organics bin

Follow these tips to help create high-quality compost.

Keep rubbish out of your lime green bin

Keep contaminants such as packaging, fruit stickers and other rubbish out of your food and garden organics bin. They reduce the quality of recycled compost. Only put accepted items in the food and garden organics bin to avoid contamination.

When sorting food scraps, make sure to remove these items:

• fruit stickers
• food packaging like plastic cucumber wrappers, carrot bags, meat trays, etc.
• cling wrap, resealable sandwich bags and containers
• takeaway packaging and utensils, even if they say they're compostable (such as bamboo, sugarcane, cardboard and bioplastic cups, bowls, boxes, straws and cutlery).

Check your council website

If you are unsure what goes into your food and garden organics bin, visit your council's website to find out. Councils have a list of what can and cannot go in each bin which is specific to your area. If you are staying with a friend or on holiday, remember to check the local rules.

Collect scraps in a kitchen caddy

• Make it easy to sort and collect your food scraps by setting up a small container in your kitchen.
• Check if your council provides kitchen caddies, or simply reuse something like an ice cream tub.
• Empty the container into the food and garden organics bin when it is full.
• Give it a rinse and then it is ready to collect your veggie and meat scraps again.

Avoid bin smells

Keep your FOGO bin pest free and smelling rosy by using these simple tips:

• Store your bin in a shady spot with the lid closed
• Freeze smelly food scraps and put them in the bin the day before collection
• Layer garden clippings between food scraps.

What happens to your scraps

When correctly sorted into your FOGO bin, your food scraps and garden clippings become nutrient-rich compost which plants love. Farms and community gardens across Victoria use this compost to improve soil quality and grow our delicious fresh food.

The Victorian Government is making large investments into organics processing facilities. These facilities help to recycle more of your food and garden scraps here in Victoria.

Compost processors in Victoria follow strict EPA regulations.

• Licensed composting facilities receive the contents of food and garden organics bins.
• These facilities undertake a series of quality assurance processes and tests.
• They remove contaminants from the materials before processing.
• Recycled compost products undergo routine testing to ensure product safety.

Why recycling your food scraps and garden clippings is important

When you put food scraps into the food and garden organics bin, you help:

• reduce the amount of material going to landfill
• reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• create valuable new products used across Victoria.
• reduce costs for ratepayers as councils (and ratepayers) pay more to send waste to landfill than to a composting facility.

Do you have a question about food and garden organics services in your area? Check your local council website to find out more.