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Wollongong City Council
Resident Visitor Business

FOGO

FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics.

Our FOGO service is now available to all households that have a green-lidded bin.

Your green bin can be used for all food waste and garden organics, which we'll reprocess into quality compost.

A smaller FOGO caddy is also available for households to use as part of this system.

Read the FOGO page on the Wollongong Waste website to find out more about this service.

You can also watch our FOGO playlist below to learn more.

We're also working towards making this system available to multi-unit complexes that do not have green bins. Stay tuned for updates.

Why FOGO?

Food scraps make up about 40% of waste in our city's household red bins. By using FOGO, we can recover and reuse this waste, and save about 150kg per household from going to landfill.

How to FOGO

Follow the five easy steps below to get the most out of your caddy and FOGO bin, or download our FOGO High 5 Guide PDF, 6256.46 KB

Use a compostable liner in your caddy. This makes it easier to move food waste from your kitchen caddy to your green bin.

Council is currently giving each household a roll of 150 liners each. These liners are designed to fit your 8 litre FOGO caddy.

If you need more, look for liners displaying the AS 4736 code and seedling logo, which can be bought at most supermarkets. See Wollongong Waste's Compostable Liner Guide for details.

Stay on top of drips and odours. Because they're compostable, liners will break down over time. This might cause drips and odours. Some things that might help include:

  • Line the bottom of your caddy with paper towel to absorb any liquids or odours.
  • Sprinkle bicarbonate soda in the bottom of your caddy to reduce odour.
  • Put smelly leftovers in a container, compostable liner, or rolled in newspaper, and put them in the freezer until bin night.

Tie it up. The liners we supply are 'singlet style', so you can tie them up before you put them in your green FOGO bin.

If you prefer not to use a caddy liner, that's fine too - it just might be a bit messier!

Keep your caddy or container close to your kitchen to make it easy to collect your food scraps. Places like your benchtop, in a cupboard or under the sink can be handy.

Store your caddy out of direct sunlight.

Keep your kitchen caddy lid closed to minimise fruit  flies (or vinegar flies) from getting into your caddy. You can also lift the handle to lock the lid in place.

If fruit flies are a problem, you can make a simple trap using vinegar and dish soap. Download our Fruit Fly Trap Guide PDF, 6178.04 KB to get started.

Putting smelly leftovers in a container, compostable liner or newspaper, and placing them in the freezer until bin night can also reduce insects and pests.

Empty your caddy every two to three days, or as needed. Take your kitchen caddy to the bin to prevent any spills when emptying it.

After emptying, give your kitchen caddy a regular wash in warm soapy water.

Some people have a second kitchen caddy which they swap out and clean, while the other caddy is in use.

If you're looking for a second caddy, many options are available from a range of department and hardware stores. You could also re-use a sealable container, like an ice cream container.

Try to store your green-lidded FOGO bin in the shade, in a well ventilated location. This will reduce the temperature of the bin's contents.

Layer your food waste with garden waste in your green-lidded FOGO bin. This will help minimise smells and pests in your green bin.

Place your green-lidded FOGO bin out on the kerb for collection every week.

To find out when your bin night is, check the Wollongong Waste calendar or download the Wollongong Waste app.

No matter how full the bin is, put it out weekly - emptying it regularly will help reduce smells and pests!

FOGO starter kits

If you’ve recently moved and don’t have a FOGO kit, don’t worry. We can arrange a starter kit for you, including a FOGO caddy, liners, and how-to guide.

Use the online form or call Council on (02) 4227 7111 to request a kit. When booking, please tell us which of these locations you’d like to collect your kit from:

  • Council’s administration building, 41 Burelli Street, Wollongong
  • Thirroul Community Centre
  • Corrimal Community Centre
  • Dapto Ribbonwood Centre
  • Remondis Unanderra.

Please note, if you’re building a new home, you don’t have to ask for a FOGO starter kit – this will be included when your new bins are provided.

FOGO caddy liners

Need more compostable liners for your FOGO caddy?

We have a limited number of liner rolls available, which residents can collect for free from the following locations:

  • Wollongong City Council Customer Service Centre
    41 Burelli Street, Wollongong
    9am - 5pm weekdays
  • Remondis
    264 Nolan Street, Unanderra
    8.30am - 5pm weekdays
  • Helensburgh Library
    57 Walker Street, Helensburgh
    During library opening hours
  • Thirroul Community Centre
    352-358 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul
    9am - 5pm weekdays
  • Dapto Library
    93-109 Princes Highway, Dapto
    During library opening hours 

Liners are available only while stocks last.

FOGO Easy English Guide

We have made an Easy English guide about how to use your FOGO bin.

FOGO Easy English guide  PDF, 5876.63 KB

FOGO community language guides

Pick an option below to read our FOGO guide in different community languages:

Extra green waste

You can take extra garden waste to our Waste Depot at Whyte's Gully, including:

  • grass clippings and leaves
  • prunings and twigs
  • untreated timber (no painted or manufactured wood, such as MDF)
  • small branches less than 150mm in diameter.

Fees apply. Tell the weighbridge staff that you have green waste, and they'll direct you to the drop off area.

Home composting and worm farms

If you'd like to set up a home compost or worm farm as well as (or instead of) using FOGO, see our Compost and Organic Waste page for details.

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