Food recycling program expands in Sydney’s Inner West 

Inner West Council is expanding a food recycling program to early learning centres and schools across the community following a successful roll out to houses in the area over the past 12 months. 

In its first year, Inner West Council collected 17,546 tonnes of FOGO  in the first year of operation, far above what was anticipated. That’s the equivalent of 36,848 tonnes of CO2. 

FOGO is a kerbside collection service that allows food scraps to be added to garden waste bins so it can be recycled into top quality compost. Currently only around 30 per cent of Australian households have access to FOGO collection services, and the Federal Government has said a national rollout won’t happen until the end of this decade, pushing back the original target of 2023.

The new service for schools and early learning centres follows a survey conducted by Council that showed strong support from educators, students and parents who want food recycling implemented to help with education about sustainability.

Council will now offer two FOGO green bins to each school and early learning centre to allow for a weekly collection as part of the weekly residential collection.

“We know a lot of food waste in our schools ends up in landfill, and this will go a long way to diverting more food scraps from landfill in the Inner West,” Inner West Deputy Mayor Mat Howard said. 

“When it comes to managing our waste better, kids and young people are often our teachers. We know good waste practices start at both home and school.”

“I’m proud the Inner West Council is continuing to show environmental leadership by supporting schools and early learning centres to recycle food scraps.”

The Mayor hopes that by expanding FOGO to schools and early learning centres new generations of young people learn the benefits of FOGO.

“It will continue the extraordinary work our community is doing to divert avoidable waste and tackle climate change.”

Since the introduction of the service, Inner West residents have diverted 18,898 tonnes of organic waste from landfill, saving 28,347 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to taking 15,991 cars off the road for a year.