FOGO FOMO! Why is Canberra still waiting for the food waste revolution?
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It’s simple, sustainable and surprisingly satisfying. With food scraps being turned into valuable compost in communities across Australia, why are most Canberrans still missing out?
There’s something wonderful about knowing your food scraps can be put to good use, rather than ending up buried and ruined in landfill.
Welcome to the wonderful world of FOGO.
FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics. It’s a simple system that allows households to put food scraps into their green-lidded bins alongside garden waste, where they’re collected and processed into compost.
And once you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to imagine going back.
Which raises the question: why doesn’t Canberra have FOGO yet?
FOGO is already part of everyday life across much of regional NSW, including just across the border in Queanbeyan. But Shellharbour has been ahead of the game, embracing FOGO back in 2016. And the story of how it was introduced is almost as interesting as what it has achieved.
Shellharbour City Council didn’t just deliver another bin and hope for the best. It held 28 community events – including free barbecues – visited schools, handed out kitchen caddies and encouraged residents to find their ‘FOGO MOJO’. But Shellharbour wasn’t the first Council to implement FOGO. The earliest adopter was Penrith City Council in 2009, however according to the NSW Environment Protection Authority, Shellharbour’s FOGO service saved ratepayers $219,000 in waste levy payments in its first year alone. Imagine that – yes, I have FOGO FOMO.
A decade later, FOGO is simply part of household life in Shellharbour. No elaborate composting system, no backyard worm farm and no special gardening knowledge required.
And there’s an unexpected bonus: once your food scraps are going into FOGO, your regular rubbish bin becomes noticeably less full.
For anyone who’s ever wrestled with an overflowing red bin on collection day, that’s a small domestic victory worth celebrating.
It’s not just about being green. Of course, the environmental benefits are significant.
When food waste ends up in landfill, it breaks down without oxygen and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
When it’s collected separately through FOGO, it can instead be processed into compost that helps improve soil health and support gardens, parks and agriculture.
It’s a lovely example of the circular economy in action: yesterday’s vegetable peelings helping grow tomorrow’s plants.
But what makes FOGO particularly appealing is that it doesn’t ask us to radically change how we live. We’re already throwing away food scraps. FOGO simply gives us somewhere better to put them.
And unlike some sustainability initiatives that require significant expense, planning or lifestyle changes, this one is refreshingly straightforward.
But what if you don’t have a backyard?
Canberra has plenty of enthusiastic composters. Across the suburbs, households are turning kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost, feeding worm farms or letting their backyard chooks enjoy the leftovers.
But what about everyone else?
Canberra is changing. Many of us are living in apartments, townhouses and units, particularly around Civic, Braddon, Kingston, Dickson and other inner-city neighbourhoods.
And while apartment living has plenty of advantages, finding somewhere to compost your vegetable peelings isn’t necessarily one of them.
Not everyone has a garden, space for a worm farm or even a balcony. And let’s be realistic, keeping a composting system in a compact apartment isn’t everyone’s idea of convenient living. It’s certainly not mine.
That’s where FOGO really comes into its own.
A shared organic waste collection in an apartment building could make recycling food scraps just as straightforward as recycling bottles, cans and cardboard.
No backyard required. No composting expertise necessary. Just a kitchen caddy and somewhere to empty it.
And importantly, it means sustainable waste management isn’t something that’s easier simply because you happen to live in a house with a garden.
So, what’s happening in Canberra?
Here’s where things get interesting.
Canberra actually does have FOGO – just not for everyone.
A pilot program began in 2021 and now includes more than 6,000 households in parts of Belconnen, Bruce, Cook, Macquarie and selected apartment buildings in Tuggeranong.
Those fortunate households can already put food scraps into their green bins.
The rest of Canberra? We’re still waiting.
The main obstacle is infrastructure. Before FOGO can be rolled out across the ACT, a large-scale facility is needed to process the collected organic waste. Planning and procurement have taken longer than originally anticipated, pushing back the timetable for a city-wide service.
The ACT Government is now aiming for a rollout by 2030. That’s quite a wait for something that has become routine in communities just up the road.
A small change worth looking forward to
Canberra has embraced plenty of sustainable living habits over the years, from reusable coffee cups and shopping bags to household solar and electric vehicles.
FOGO feels like a natural addition.
It’s practical, accessible and requires very little effort once it becomes part of your routine.
And perhaps most importantly, it makes doing the right thing easier for everyone, whether you live on a quarter-acre block in the suburbs or in an apartment in Braddon.
Sometimes the best environmental changes aren’t the dramatic ones. They’re the small, everyday habits that become so normal we wonder how we ever lived without them.
Come on, Canberra – it’s time to get our FOGO mojo on!
