What Governments in Australia Are Doing to Support Composting

What Governments in Australia Are Doing to Support Composting

At BioPak, we see composting as an exciting step toward the circular economy. An approach to sustainable consumption where organic waste is diverted from landfill and turned into nutrient-rich compost instead. 

The Federal Government recognises the value of composting, too. They’ve set a National Waste Strategy to halve food waste by 2030, as well as have FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) collection available to Metropolitan households and businesses by 2030.

But this is only guidance, not a mandate. States, territories and local governments are developing their own strategies to promote measures that will prevent, reduce, and divert organic waste from landfill. 

This article explores what each state government is doing to respond to the National Waste Strategy target.

State Strategies For Composting

New South Wales

  • By 2030, Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection will be mandated for all NSW households and select businesses.
  • Unfortunately, compostable packaging is facing challenges related to NSW FOGO collections. In July 2022, the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) released a Position Statement on acceptable inputs for FOGO bins – compostable packaging did not fall into these acceptable inputs due to PFAS contamination concerns. At BioPak, we’re moving quickly to completely phase out PFAS from our product range. 
  • Between 2013 and 2021, NSW launched Waste Less, Recycle More, an initiative funding waste reduction projects to reduce overall waste. The initiative includes an Organics Infrastructure Grant Program to make it easier for households and businesses to do the right thing with their organic waste. The program provided $57 million over 9 years to fund FOGO infrastructure and equipment for the public sector, businesses, community groups, NFP and NGOs.

South Australia

  • Adelaide is a great example of widespread composting initiatives – something other states and territories should look toward. The city’s Rundle Mall was the first retail precinct to trial a new multi-bin system, in collaboration with Green Industries SA and the City Council of Adelaide
  • South Australia has implemented a Food Waste Strategy 2020-2025 which will see a three-bin system adopted across all metro councils, making sure all residents in Adelaide will have access to an organics collection system by 2025.

Victoria

  • Victoria has a circular economy plan in place, stating all Victorian households will get access to four core waste and recycling services:
  1. Combined food and garden organics (FOGO)
  2. Glass
  3. Combined paper, plastic and metals
  4. Residual waste
  • In accordance with this plan, there’s a mandatory rollout of FOGO bins by 2026 - 2027, with the aim for all Victorians to have access to a bin or local composting by 2030. 
  • In 2021 the Circular Economy Organics Sector Transformation Fund granted a total of $10.2 million to organic processing businesses to develop new or enhance existing organic processing infrastructure to improve product quality or increase capacity.

Western Australia

  • WA’s Waste Avoidance and Resource Strategy aims to increase material recovery to 75% by 2025. 
  • To achieve this ambitious target, local governments in the Perth and Peel regions will have a consistent three-bin kerbside collection system, including the separation of FOGO from other waste categories. 
  • The State Government will help fund FOGO services to make it a cost-competitive option for local governments.

Tasmania

  • In November 2019, all green waste bins in Hobart City switched to FOGO bins. All Hobart residents and businesses have access to FOGO collection services. 
  • Outside of Hobart, Tasmania developed a Draft Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy, with the final strategy yet to be released. Watch this space. 
  • The 2012 - 22 state budget allocated $4.5 million to improve organic waste (including FOGO) reprocessing capacity across Tasmania (as published in the Waste Initiatives Progress Report).

Queensland

  • From August 2021 to September 2022, over 3000 households across Townsville, Rockhampton and Lockyer Valley participated in a FOGO kerbside collection trial. The trials diverted hundreds of tonnes of organic waste from landfills. 
  • The results of the FOGO kerbside collection trial are being used as evidence to support wider implementation of FOGO collection throughout Queensland. 
  • In 2023, the Palaszczuk Government announced it would invest $151 million to help Queensland households better dispose of organic waste. The new FOGO service (GROW) is forecasted to deliver over one million organic bins.

ACT

  • In November 2021, there was a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection pilot in the districts of Belconnen, Bruce, Cook and Macquarie. 
  • A FOGO Feasibility Summary states that this pilot will continue until the FOGO service is available in all Canberra households.  
  • There are plans to build a large-scale FOGO processing facility in Canberra (according to the ACT Circular Economy Strategy and Action Plan).

Northern Territory

  • The city of Darwin has a Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy which aims to reduce kerbside waste going to landfills by 50% and establish a composting facility for processing food, garden organics and timber over the next 10 years.
  • The Northern Territory has released a Circular Economy Strategy 2022 - 2027 which aims to reduce, reuse and recycle waste into a valuable resource. 
  • The strategy has not provided specific details on the use of FOGO collection services to tackle the waste problem.

Examples of Local Government Composting Initiatives

But it’s not just state governments that need to take action. For composting to become a widespread and viable solution, we need action at every level – including the local council and individual level.

Several local councils across Australia have taken matters into their own hands and begun or partnered with local composting initiatives.

Compost Revolution

Several councils across Australia have partnered with Compost Revolution – a multi-award-winning program that educates and provides equipment to residents who want to start home composting and worm farming as a way to reduce their organic waste. 

Councils that partner with Compost Revolution may receive subsidies on worm farms, bokashi bins and compost bins. Learn more about participating councils here.

Adelaide City Council – Rundle Mall

In collaboration with Green Industries SA and the City Council of Adelaide, Rundle Mall in Adelaide’s CBD trialled a new multi-bin system, with separate bins for food waste and compostable packaging, cans and bottles and general waste.  

Since launching the 12-month program, it’s helped replace over 20,000 single-use plastics with compostable products (source), as many vendors were encouraged to switch to certified compostable packaging options.

Free Composting Workshops

Several councils provide free composting workshops to show you how to start your own home compost or worm farm! Check with your local council to see if this is something they offer.

Compost Connect

Although not a government initiative, Compost Connect is a not-for-profit initiative connecting foodservice businesses to commercial organic waste pick-up services. 

With almost 30 compost partners servicing 2,200 + suburbs across Australia and New Zealand, the goal of Compost Connect is to assist the transition toward composting and the circular economy.

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