City of Ballarat prepares for FOGO kerbside collection in 2025

The City of Ballarat has reached a new milestone as it works towards the introduction of the new weekly Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) kerbside collection in 2025.

The tender for an experienced contractor to supply, coordinate and deliver kitchen caddies, caddy liners and service information packs to about 51,000 residential households is currently being advertised.

Residents will receive a kitchen caddy to collect their food scraps, which they can then add to their garden organics (current green waste) bin with the lime green lid.  

As part of the tender invitation, the caddies are required to be:

• Seven litres with a carry handle and aerated lid
• Made from 100 per cent recycled material and will be recyclable through the kerbside mixed recyclables service at the end of their life, and
• Dishwasher friendly.

As part of the tender, each roll of caddy liners will contain 150 individual liners made from biodegradable plastic suitable for composting. The caddies will contain information packs explaining the new service.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said it was exciting to see planning underway for the rollout of the new FOGO service, which will significantly reduce the volume of food waste sent to landfill.

“It will encourage residents to use their FOGO bin and potentially halve the amount of waste going into residents’ household waste bin,” he said.

“The environmental benefits will include about 10,500 tonnes of food organics set to be recycled and turned into new products, like compost.  

“This will reduce carbon emissions created in the Ballarat Regional Landfill by an estimated 5,000 tonnes.”

The new FOGO service will be provided to about 51,000 residential properties (forecast number of properties in 2025) under 4,000 square metres that receive a City of Ballarat kerbside waste and recycling service.  

Larger properties will be able to opt-in to the FOGO service for an annual fee. These properties are now able to opt-in to the green waste service for $72 per year.

Under the introduction of FOGO, household waste collection will change from weekly to fortnightly. Mixed recyclables will continue to be collected fortnightly.

The City of Ballarat will also assess the impact of the State Government’s Container Deposit Scheme, which commenced in late 2023, before implementing the kerbside glass collection service.  

The City of Ballarat plans to implement the FOGO and household waste service changes in May 2025 subject to a range of factors, including the City of Ballarat being able to engage a suitable FOGO processor in the region, as well as procuring bins and caddies, and the development and implementation of a comprehensive community education campaign.

The tender for the supply of kitchen caddies, liners and information packs is expected to be awarded by early September.

In line with the Victorian Government’s Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, all Local Government Areas are required to transition to a separate glass service and a separate food organics and garden organics (FOGO) service. The Victorian Government requires a glass collection service to be introduced by 2027 and a FOGO service by 2030.