Riverina councils receive funding to roll out FOGO program at 20,000 households

Six councils in the Riverina are being given funding to roll out the food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection service, which has been running in Wagga since 2018.

The announcement means more than 20,000 green bins will eventually be sent out to households across the Murrumbidgee, Berrigan, Edward River, Federation, Greater Hume and Leeton council areas.

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Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation team leader for resource recovery Andrea Baldwin said she is "quite ecstatic" to see the councils receive financial support to get the program up and running.

More than one third of the waste NSW residents throw away is food scraps, which clog up landfills and generate damaging greenhouse gases.

Under the FOGO program, food and garden scraps are instead put in the green-lid bin and turned into compost for farms and public spaces.

Ms Baldwin said the introduction of the FOGO program in these Riverina council areas will have a significant impact on the region's waste management.

"The value of landfill is quite significant and there's not many of them around with a lot of available space," she said.

"This is a tradition we need to make. It's also a really valuable resource because the material in an organic bin can be turned into compost and used out in the region itself."

Councils will be able to use the funding to purchase bins, conduct audits, trials and education as they prepare to launch a weekly kerbside collection service.

The state government is giving funding to 14 different councils across the state to implement the program, bringing the total number of councils involved to 56.

NSW Environment Minister James Griffin said FOGO services across the state have had "exception results" by diverting organic waste from landfill, reducing emissions, delivering a valuable resource and saving money on landfill disposal costs.

"We're empowering households to take simple and effective action to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill each week and reduce household emissions," Mr Griffin said.

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