Tackling food waste: FOGO should be a go in Lane Cove
When it comes to food waste, Australia has a problem. In a 2018 study, the National Waste Report reported that food and garden organics make up about half of all kerbside garbage.
This isn’t good news for the environment and combating climate change
Emissions: When food scraps end up in landfill it produces methane. If this gas is not captured, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2 is released. Food waste produces eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind the USA and China.
Water wastage: 25% of water used in agriculture grows food that's ultimately wasted. Throwing away one burger wastes the same amount of water as a 90 minute shower.
Money: What a terrible waste!
Australia has set a goal to halve its food waste by 2030, aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3.
We can all play a role now.
You can avoid food waste by first applying the principles of waste reduction: reduce, reuse and finally recycle (more tips on this on Recycling Near You).
But Lane Cove Council also needs to lead the way and support the community in reduce food waste.
When it comes to the ‘recycling’ part of food waste - not everyone can have a compost bin or worm farm.
Food waste infographic courtesy of the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
We need FOGO ASAP
This is where FOGO comes in. Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) is a kerbside collection service. It allows food to be added to the green lid garden waste bin so it can be recycled into top quality compost.
In many parts of the world FOGO is mandatory.
Currently, 69% of NSW households with services have a green-lid bin for organics. But only 43 councils have FOGO and the majority of those are in regional NSW.
As a Lane Cove resident, you’d be aware that Lane Cove Council currently doesn’t provide a FOGO service. They're going to have to though.
The NSW Government is pushing councils to provide FOGO services. They are giving NSW councils until 2030 to deliver FOGO, and work to reduce household waste by 50 per cent.
As a community we need to lobby to expedite the introduction of FOGO services locally.
NSW and SMA Organics Collections operating and planned 2021. Map from the EPA.
Lane Cove Council is often on the backfoot with things like this - while other councils around us power ahead.
It would be a focus for me as a councillor to get FOGO sorted as soon as possible.
It’s not fair to put the onus on the community to do the right thing.
If you have a house and garden, it’s much easier to get a compost or woodform going to deal with organic waste.
It’s not feasible for many apartment dwelling residents in our area to do this. Many strata won’t let you have them onsite. And it can be cost prohibitive for to pay someone else to take your organic waste through a service like PositiveWaste.
In the mean time sans widespread council supported FOGO…
I do my bit with other local residents by taking part in the Sharewaste program.
My friend Corinne is one of the residents whose food waste I take through ShareWaste!
ShareWaste connects people who wish to recycle their food scraps and other organics with their neighbours who are already composting, worm-farming or keep farm animals.
I’ve been a part of the program for 3 years now and helped more than 30 people in local apartments and units to recycle their food waste.
It’s also a great way to connect with the local community. My running mate Madeleine lives in an apartment and drops her food scraps for composting with me.
I currently collect waste for about 8 units. I now have 4 compost areas and a bathtub worm farm on the go. I feel a little like a self initiated micro council composting facility! But how much can one person compost?!
I was quite surprised to see Lane Cove Council promote the work of locals who are taking it upon themselves to do ShareWaste on their social media.
While I am obviously a big fan of the program, it seems a bit odd for local government to do this when they should be stepping up as soon as possible. They didn't even include any information on what they are doing in this space themselves!
When pushed, they said they have a Food Organics and Garden Organics trial planned. They say it will now commence early 2022 due to Covid-19 restrictions. Typically, it is impossible to find information on their website about this. So who knows if they will stick to this deadline!
Another option in the short term they could initiate, could be to create hyperlocal community sharewaste facilities where people could take their food waste for composting. Maybe at the council gardening facilities at Blackman Park? Sharewaste themselves?
If you’d like to get more info on ShareWaste - maybe you’d like to contribute as a composter (I can answer your questions) OR you want to join mine? I have room. Send me an email!
