Clarification surrounding the City’s stance on FOGO

The City of Stirling would like to clarify its stance on Food Organic Garden Organics (FOGO) waste systems.

City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin that the City saw the merit in the introduction of a FOGO system, however it was still investigating whether it would be viable.

“It’s still early stages and there is still a lot to be considered before any decision can be made,” Mayor Irwin said.

“So, I would like to make it clear that we are not yet in a position to consider the introduction of fortnightly FOGO collections,”

“The City is waiting for clarity on a number of issues that would impact the City and its ratepayers and we want to make sure we have all of the information and input from the community we need before we can look at making a decision.”

Mayor Irwin said that clarity would come in the form of a detailed report, which would be presented to Council in 12-18 months.

“The report will address some of the big issues that we need to consider such as whether we would have access to a facility that could take the amount of FOGO waste generated by the City, whether there would continue to be demand for FOGO waste, how contamination issues would be managed and whether the cost of introducing and managing a FOGO waste system would be viable,” he said.

“It’s also my hope that the State Government will consider providing all local governments with funding and other opportunities to help implement FOGO waste systems in the future and meet the requirements of the Waste and Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030.”

The City of Stirling has an existing three-bin system and was one of the first local governments to support the Waste Authority’s Better Bins Program, by implementing a garden organics collection service in 2015, which has been highly successful.

For more information on the City’s current recycling system and recycling across the City, please visit www.stirling.wa.gov.au/waste-and-environment/waste-and-recycling/recycling.

You can find more information on the City’s most recent report to Council regarding FOGO, here.