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City of Wollongong

Info for new residents

Monday 16 January 2023

Is moving to Wollongong one of your New Year resolutions? Or are you still in the process of unpacking moving boxes? If you’re new in town, we’d like to say welcome to our beautiful city on Dharawal Country!

We know that moving can be a stressful endeavour. That’s why we’ve curated an online site of handy tips and Council-related information on our website to help make the move a bit easier.

Everything new residents need to know from getting their red, yellow, and green-lidded bins collected, registering a pet, the secrets to discovering the best beaches and pools, and finding a local library is all just a click away.

If you’ve moved to West Dapto, our fastest-growing residential area, we’ve also got you covered! We’ve developed a West Dapto specific webpage specifically for the many new residents who are moving to this fast growing community.

“On behalf of Wollongong City Council, hello and welcome to our city. We’re a close-knit community here in Wollongong and we’re passionate about our natural environment from the Illawarra escarpment to our stunning coastline,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.

“Here in Wollongong, we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to the outdoors. Our home boasts 17 patrolled beaches from Stanwell Park in the north to Windang in the south, 6 freshwater and 3 saltwater public pools, and 9 ocean rock pools.

“I know that you will have lots of great beaches to visit, restaurants to taste your way through, and community spaces to explore. Before you get started, jump online to Council’s website to learn more about your new community.”

One of the big changes that some new residents may be a little unfamiliar with is Wollongong’s Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO).

“Here in the City of Wollongong, we work hard to turn food waste into compost and decrease the amount of organic material entering landfill. Our FOGO system is one of the ways we can take care of our environment by reducing methane emissions from landfill,” Cr Bradbery said.

“This month we celebrated two years of FOGO with over 72,784 tonnes of FOGO waste collected since we first started this program in December 2020. Of this, 9,600 tonnes is food waste, which is equivalent in size to 14 Olympic-size swimming pools.”

All new residents are provided with a kitchen caddy and compostable bags to get them started on FOGO. If you’ve recently moved and don’t have a FOGO kit, we can arrange a starter kit for you. Simply call Council on (02) 4227 7111 or request a starter kit online.

Read more in our article: ‘Wollongong FOGO turns 2!’.

Visit our New Residents webpage or our New Residents in West Dapto webpage for more information.


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