Quality FOGO waste means quality compost

Published on 14 September 2023

Council’s Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service is helping to turn your food and garden waste into rich compost. But sometimes, the wrong items can end up in a FOGO bin.

Council has compiled a list of items that should not be put into a FOGO bin, to help our processor create quality compost for growing food.   

Bagged garbage

Plastic bags cannot be composted.

Council supplied liners are made from corn starch and are compostable. These liners have been tested to ensure they are safe to use. Add your food scraps into your caddy lined with a Council-supplied liner and then put it in your FOGO bin when it’s full.

Garden waste such as leaves and branches go into your FOGO bin loosely.

Flexible/soft plastics

Soft plastics like food packaging cannot be composted.

Soft plastics can get caught in the processor’s machinery. Be sure to remove all plastic food packaging before your food waste goes into your FOGO bin.

Rubber bands, cling wrap, food wrapping and stickers

Remove all bands, stickers, cling wrap and packaging before they go in your FOGO bin.

These smaller contaminants can slip through machinery undetected and end up in compost.

Kitty litter and pet waste

Animal waste and litter can often carry parasites which can pose a health and safety risk to workers at the organics processing facility.

Dispose of these in your general waste bin or you can purchase a discounted pet poo composter from Council. 

Cardboard

Cardboard should be recycled rather than placed into your FOGO bin.

The FOGO bin is designed to capture materials that would otherwise need to be landfilled. The best outcome for the environment is to recycle your cardboard and paper in your blue-lidded recycling bin so it can be turned back into cardboard and paper products.

Soil

Adding soil to food and garden waste bin poses a health and safety risk for the workers at the organics processing facility.

You can dispose of soil in your home compost bin. If you don’t have a home compost system set up already, Council offers discounts on a range of home composting systems. 

Ash

Council’s processor does not accept ash because it can contain unknown materials that pose a health and safety risk to the workers at the organics processing facility.

Once it has cooled completely put ash into your general waste bin. 

Treated timber

Timber that is treated cannot be composted because it contains chemicals.

Treated timber can be disposed of via a hard waste collection. You can book a collection with Council.

Further information

Learn more about what can and can’t go into your FOGO bin and download a printable PDF of accepted items(PDF, 95KB) .