FOGO - Food Organics and Garden Organics

FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics.

Currently, in Port Stephens, our green lid bins only accept Garden Organics (GO). Port Stephens Council will introduce a weekly kerbside FOGO service for households in July 2027.

When FOGO begins, you’ll be able to place both food AND garden waste in your green lid bin. Your green lid bin will move to a weekly collection once FOGO starts.

All collected food and garden organics will be processed into nutrient‑rich compost for use in agriculture and landscaping.

This is an important way for us to make a difference when it comes to protecting the environment and reducing unnecessary landfill waste.

FOGO collection service will be provided to all Port Stephens residents in:

• Houses
• Duplexes
• Townhouses
• Unit buildings with 30 or fewer dwellings.

The NSW Government requires all councils to provide a food organics recycling service to households by 2030 to help stop food waste going to landfill.  It also just makes sense to divert what is a useful resource from going to landfill, and use it to preserve and improve our soils.

All households in the Port Stephens Local Government Area will receive a FOGO collection service. This will include a free FOGO starter pack, featuring a kitchen caddy to collect your food scraps, the first year's supply of environmentally certified compostable liners, and easy to understand information and guides about the new service.

To make this happen, FOGO (green lid) bins will transition to weekly collection to ensure food waste is collected regularly for continued health and safety reasons. We need to decide on a weekly or fortnightly collection service for general waste (red lid) bin and we want to hear from you.

This switch will occur from July 2027. Higher density housing arrangements will be introduced a staged manner between July and December 2027. This to allow for proper consultation around the number of bins supplied to each property.  We will continue to update you as we progress through this process.

The change will significantly reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill.

It’s estimated that across the state we will together stop around 950,000 tonnes of FOGO waste going to landfill each year. This is the equivalent of the weight of over 24,000 humpback whales migrating along our coast!

It also contributes to what is known as a circular economy, where products that used to be considered as waste are recycled into valued products such as compost. It will also reduce landfill greenhouse gas emissions.

No. Your current garden organics (green lid) bin will become your FOGO bin.

You’ll be able to place both food scraps and garden organics in your green lid bin once the FOGO service starts from July 2027. Until then, your green lid bin is for garden organics only.

Yes. Before the service begins, each household will be delivered a free:

• Kitchen caddy to collect your food scraps;
• Starter supply of compostable caddy liners; and
• Information pack on how to easily use the service

Replacement liners will also be available after the service rollout.

Only the following materials will be allowed in the FOGO (green lid) bin:

• Food waste, such as scraps, leftovers, including meat and dairy.
• Garden waste such as grass clippings, leaves and pruning.
• Compostable kitchen caddy liners that comply with Australian Standards for composting.
• Fibre-based kitchen caddy liners such as newspaper.

Once the FOGO service starts, all household food scraps will move from your general waste (red lid) bin to your weekly FOGO (green lid) bin.

Since food scraps make up the bulk of household waste weight, your general waste (red lid) bin will fill up much more slowly and contain very little odorous material. Moving to a fortnightly general waste (red lid) bin collection cycle helps keep the overall waste service affordable for ratepayers while still meeting community needs.

The frequency of the general waste (red lid) bin collection directly impacts the cost of running our waste services .

A weekly general waste (red lid) bin collection requires more trucks, fuel and staff on the road, making it more expensive to operate. A fortnightly general waste (red lid) bin collection is a more cost-effective option.

Once the FOGO service starts, all household food scraps will move from your general waste (red lid) bin to your weekly FOGO (green lid) bin. Since food scraps make up a significant portion of household waste, your general waste (red lid) bin will fill up much more slowly and contain very little odorous material. Moving to a fortnightly general waste (red lid) bin helps keep the overall waste service affordable for ratepayers while still meeting community needs.

Final waste charges will be determined closer to the launch from July 2027 based on the service model influenced by your feedback.

Your annual domestic waste management charge covers the entire waste ecosystem, including:

• The red lid, green lid, and yellow lid bins,
• Public litter bins,
• Kerbside collections and processing facilities.

A weekly general waste (red lid) bin collection requires more trucks, fuel and staff on the road, making it more expensive to operate. A fortnightly red bin collection is a more cost-effective option.

Final waste charges will be determined closer to the launch from July 2027 based on the service model influenced by your feedback.

Yes. Once FOGO begins, your red‑lid bin will still be serviced every week.

When FOGO launches in mid‑2027, your bin collection frequency will be:

• FOGO bin: Collected WEEKLY (food scraps and garden waste)
• General waste bin: Collected WEEKLY (no change)
• Recycling bin: Collected FORTNIGHTLY (no change)

Home composting is fantastic and we encourage you to keep doing it!

Standard backyard compost bins typically can’t process bones, meat, seafood, dairy or large amounts of citrus without attracting pests.

The commercial composting facilities used for Council’s FOGO service operate at much higher temperatures meaning you can safely use your FOGO (green lid) bin for the heavy food items your home compost can't handle. So hopefully a win-win.

NSW has a statewide mandate for Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) recycling, to reduce food waste and stop food waste going to landfill. As part of this, new laws are being introduced which will require businesses or institutions that sell or handle food, like supermarkets, cafes, schools and hotels, to separate food waste from general waste.   

While these changes formally begin across NSW on 1 July 2026, our local business community qualifies for an automatic temporary exemption. Because Port Stephens LGA is outside Greater Sydney and Council does not yet provide a household residential FOGO service, local businesses are exempt from the mandate until at least 1 July 2028. 

Even with the exemption in place, we encourage local businesses to start considering food waste initiatives to reduce landfill and save on waste costs. Visit the NSW EPA website for more details and resources. You can also contact your commercial waste provider for more information.

General Rates and Waste Charges are separate fees on your council bill.

• General Rates: This money pays for shared public spaces, like roads, parks, libraries, and footpaths.
• Waste Charges: These include both direct "user-pays" fees that cover the cost of providing waste and recycling services to your residence, as well as broader waste services to the community.

Because these two budgets are kept separate by law, changes to waste services have no impact on your general rates. This means the costs of providing a FOGO service will not impact your general rates.

Your annual Waste Charges cover the entire ecosystem of Council providing waste and recycling services to the community, including:

• Kerbside bin collection services (waste, recycling and organics bins)
• Kerbside bulky waste collection service
• Disposal or processing of all waste and recyclables collected from kerbside services

• Public litter bins and cleaning
• Special waste drop-off days and events
• Salamander Bay Transfer Station

Waste Charges are determined based on the costs of providing these waste services to the community, and are communicated as part of Council's annual review of Fees & Charges.

The FOGO service will utilise residents' existing green-lid organics bin. The green-lid organics bin is part of the standard package of three (3) waste and recycling bins, plus two (2) bulky kerbside collections that Council provides to every residence. Council must charge for and make this service available to all residents, whether they choose to use all aspects of the service or not. The Waste Service Charge cannot be adjusted to reflect the use of all or part of the waste service.

Over the coming months and year, we will be raising awareness and providing information and advice so this change can be as easy and convenient as possible for you. We know you have enough to worry about and so we want to make it easy.

Our team will also be available at pop-up stalls at community events, markets and other public places, providing an opportunity to learn more about FOGO and have your questions answered.

We will also provide information through our website, mailouts, media and social media.