FOGO-a-GOGO!

Pilot Overview

Port Lincoln's Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) Pilot Program has arrived! 400 lucky households have been selected to take part in a 12-month pilot starting 4 March 2024, aimed at diverting organic materials from landfill.

Landfill is expensive and bad for the environment. Armed with a 240L green-lid FOGO bin and a kitchen benchtop caddy, Pilot participants will be able to easily divert food and garden organic waste from their red lid landfill bin into their new FOGO bin.

Who Is Participating In The FOGO Pilot?

The FOGO Pilot area consists of all streets between Normandy Place and Breton Place, and Lincoln Highway / Baudin Place and Flinders Highway, as highlighted in the below map. Residences on both sides of Normandy Place will be included, as will all residences on Breton Place / Baudin Place. No residences on Flinders Highway or Upper Baudin Place will be affected.

For a full list of streets included, please refer to the FAQ section of this page.

FOGO Collection Calendar

Residents in the FOGO Pilot Area will be given a new Collection Calendar, or refer calendar below.Residents are encouraged to download the free My Local Services App on their mobile device. Weekly bin notifications can be set up to remind households to put the correct bins out the night before.

If you live in the FOGO Pilot area, and your 240L recycling bin has a green lid you are eligible for a free yellow lid upgrade to help bring Port Lincoln's waste system in line with Australian Standards. Some residents may have already noticed their Recycling bin lid was changed on Monday 26 February 2024. For those who haven't had their lid changed to a yellow one yet, simply make sure your recycling bin is placed out at the kerbside each regular collection day throughout March, and our Rotary 'bin lid elves' will change it. Some bins won't be compatible with the yellow lids, if this is the case a yellow sticker will be placed on the lid.

We're here to support you on your journey to become FOGO champions.

If at the end of March your Recycling Bin lid hasn't been upgraded or a yellow sticker hasn't been placed on the lid please contact Council.

Key Dates
Latest News

11 March 2024 - Fortnightly Recycling Only Collection Commences
4 March 2024 - Fortnightly FOGO & Waste Collections Commence
10 February 2024 - Workshops with Sophie Thomson
12-26 February 2024 - FOGO Bins Delivered to Residents
26 February 2024 - Extra Recycle Bin Pickup

Red bins will still be collected this week.
FOGO Pilot Program

12-month FOGO Pilot commenced 4 March 2024 and runs until 24 February 2025

12-month FOGO Pilot gets off to a great start

Council would like to congratulate everyone in the FOGO Pilot Area who participated in the inaugural FOGO collection, with the first FOGO Bin collected by Veolia Environmental Services on Monday 4 March 2024.

We're thrilled to report that about 65% of households in the FOGO Pilot Area placed their FOGO bins at the kerbside – surpassing the average for recycling. What an achievement! Let's set our sights even higher and aim for 70% participation next time - Monday 18 March 2024.

This Monday 18 March:

🟢 Place your Green FOGO Bin; and

🔴 Place your Red Waste Bin kerbside.

Never miss a bin day again by installing the My Local Services App on your mobile device, with bin day reminders straight to your smartphone, by going to the App Store or Google Play Store. Or refer to the FOGO Pilot Transition Calendar in the Key Documents on the right or image below.

Moreover, we're delighted to announce that overall, residents correctly sorted their waste into the appropriate bins, resulting in minimal contamination – less than 0.5%! While this is fantastic news, we did notice a few stray plastic bags and other minor items in some bins.

For guidance on what items belong in each bin, please refer to the information packs provided. And don't forget to inspect bags and product packaging closely for the "compostable" logo.

Check out Green Industries SA, WhichBin Video: No Logo? No GoGo - https://buff.ly/3IAtsZ3

Feel free to give Council a call at 8621 2300 if you have any questions on what items can and can't go in each bin or simply visit the WhichBin website: What goes in the green bin? https://buff.ly/3Pmkmmu

Together, we can make a significant impact on our environment! Keep up the fantastic work!

Category : FOGO Pilot News

Created On : 15 March 2024

Engage With Us

Register your household and go into the draw to Win-A-Bin!

Sign up to stay in the loop about the FOGO Pilot as it progresses, and answer a few simple questions about waste in your household for your chance to win a Maze compost tumbler valued at $250. Survey open to residents of the FOGO Pilot Area only.

Take this Survey

Changes to Kerbside Collection

So What Is Changing?

Properties will receive a new 240L FOGO bin, a 7L kitchen caddy, and a roll of compostable liner bags for the kitchen caddy, delivered in February. The new FOGO bin will be collected fortnightly on a Monday.
Red lid waste bins will move to fortnightly collection, picked up on the same day as the FOGO bin.
Recycle bins with dark green lids will be upgraded with a yellow lid. Recycle bins will remain on fortnightly collection, on alternate Mondays to the FOGO and waste bins.
With the larger bin for FOGO, this new system will provide 200L in additional bin space every month compared to the current system.

Any questions on the FOGO Pilot Program can be directed to Council's Customer Serivce Team on 8621 2300 or email plcc@plcc.sa.gov.au

Quick Facts

Port Lincoln is the only remaining city in South Australia without a kerbside green waste service

Compost produced from FOGO helps to improve soil quality, reduce irrigation demand, and creates local jobs.

Our kerbside red bins contained 60% organic materials at the last audit, equating to 2500 tonnes per year. More than half of this was food waste.

75% of organics collected in Port Lincoln is sent to landfill, producing five times more carbon emissions than the rest of Council's other operations

Under the FOGO Pilot's 3 bin fortnightly service, residents get 100 L extra bin space per fortnight.

Compostable bags provided for free in your supermarket fruit and veg aisle can be used to line your kitchen caddy.

Key Documents

Pilot Information

FOGO Pilot FAQs

FOGO Pilot Transition Calendar

FOGO Pilot Information Brochure

Agendas & Minutes

Ordinary Council Meeting - 19 August 2024 - Minutes Item 13.5

Ordinary Council Meeting - 19 August 2024 - Agenda Item 13.5

Ordinary Council Meeting - 19 February 2024 - Minutes Item 13.2

Ordinary Council Meeting - 19 February 2024 - Agenda Item 13.2

Key Contact

Sebastian Carr

Environmental Sustainability Officer
City of Port Lincoln

Phone: 08 8621 2300

Email: plcc@plcc.sa.gov.au

FAQS

FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics. It covers all the organic waste we usually generate at home, both in the kitchen and the garden. Some things like food scraps and grass clippings are obvious, however it also includes things like greasy cardboard, shredded paper and dog poo! Refer to the categories stamped on the lid of your FOGO Bin, as well as the fact sheet provided in your information booklet.

Using the FOGO bin instead of the red bin has many benefits including:

reduces your carbon footprint
saves space in your red bin
reduces the amount (and cost) of landfill needed
creates valuable compost
helps create local jobs in the circular economy

The FOGO Pilot is being run across 400 allotments in a small geographical area shown in the map provided; between Normandy Place, Flinders Highway, Breton Place and Lincoln Highway. If you do not live in this area, you are not affected by the FOGO Pilot.

Here is a full list of street names in the Pilot Area:

ALEXANDER CRESCENT
ALSACE CRESCENT
AMIENS PLACE
BAUDIN PLACE
BELLEWOOD AVENUE
BRETON PLACE
ERIC AVENUE
GASCONY CRESCENT
GRANGE GROVE
HILLSIDE GROVE
JILLIAN AVENUE
LOMBARDY PLACE
LORRAINE AVENUE
MCDONALD AVENUE
MENA PLACE
NORMANDY PLACE
PAIGE STREET
PICARDY PLACE
ROSLYN STREET
ROXANNE STREET
SHANNON AVENUE

The FOGO Pilot had to meet set criteria in terms of minimising impact on existing kerbside waste collection services, such as the total number of properties, geographic area and impact on truck movements. The area chosen was the only existing collection route in Port Lincoln that met all criteria.

Yes. The 140L red lid bin will now be picked up fortnightly, along with the 240L FOGO bin. The recycle bin will continue to be collected fortnightly, commencing from 26 February 2024. A collection calendar will be published closer to the date, and bin day reminders will be provided via the free My Local Services App.

Figures from our last waste audit show almost 60% of the contents of our 140L red bins is organic materials. Introducing the 240L FOGO bin will free up a lot of space in the 140L red bin, meaning it wont fill up as quickly.

Yes. The collection round schedule will be changed during the Pilot period based on the "fortnightly all streams" service. All occupied properties in the Pilot Area will have a 240L FOGO bin and kitchen caddy delivered. We encourage you to embrace this Pilot as it has been shown to be successful in other areas around the state.

Reduce potential unpleasant smells in the FOGO bin by containing scraps in compostable bags or wrapping in newspaper. Combining food waste in the FOGO bin with garden prunings, lawn clippings, even shredded paper, will help absorb moisture and reduce odours. You can also freeze things that are likely to produce more odours, like seafood, meat scraps and dairy, and place them in the FOGO bin the day before collection.

Yes, you can. Even for most households with home compost systems, there are still likley to be some food scraps (like meat, bones, dairy, dog poo!) that are not recommended for home compost systems, and some garden waste that is hard to manage on your block. You can place all food scraps and organic garden materials in the FOGO bin - even greasy pizza boxes! - so this collection can complement your existing home system.

All residences will require kitchen caddies and liner bags for food waste. For units with shared kerbside bin arrangements, it may be possible for you to share a FOGO bin with your neighbour for food waste too. However someone would need to be responsible for moving the shared bin for collection day. If you would like to arrange a trial of shared bins please get in touch on 8621 2300 to discuss what we can do to assist.

In total residents will receive 100 L of additional bin space collection to manage their waste streams, so if organic food and garden waste is put in the FOGO bin there should be enough space for most people. However if you have concerns about your circumstances please contact us on 8621 2300 or email us at plcc@plcc.sa.gov.au to discuss how we can support you.

If you have gone over the details and remain concerned about your circumstances please get in touch with us on 8621 2300 or email us at plcc@plcc.sa.gov.au to discuss how we can support you.

This trial has been funded by the City of Port Lincoln and Green Industries SA (GISA). GISA's Council Modernisation Program assists councils to improve waste management and recycling services.