Wagga Wagga City Council is thanking residents for sorting their food and garden waste correctly and urges everyone to keep up the good work.
A recent report of our FOGO waste showed that residents are doing a great job at keeping non-organics out of their green lid bins.
Resource Recovery Facilities Manager Andrea Baldwin said residents have corrected their FOGO waste sorting practices dramatically over the last year.
“In March 2025 it was announced that there were changes to what could be placed in the green lid bins, with items like paper, cardboard, teabags and hair no longer permitted,” Ms Baldwin said.
“Since then, we have seen a significant drop in all FOGO contamination rates down to 2 per cent.
“It’s great to see residents embrace the changes, and the results highlight that the right materials are in the FOGO bin. The goal is to maintain contamination levels below 3 per cent consistently
“It’s important that contamination remains low as the FOGO material is taken to a local composter where it is turned into high-quality compost for use in parks, gardens, sporting fields and agriculture.
“Ensure all of your household food waste continues to go in the green lid bin; spoiled food makes great compost, so long as you remove this from the packaging first.”
With spring approaching and people likely to be getting outside and doing garden work, Council reminds everyone that the green lid bins are perfect for garden waste.
“Fallen leaves, small tree clippings and grass clippings are all permitted in the green lid bins, which is collected weekly,” Andrea Baldwin said.
“However, there is a limit to what garden waste can be placed in the green lid bin; any kind of treated timber, large amounts of soil and tree stumps or branches wider than 10cm are not permitted; these items should be taken to your nearest waste management facility and remember bins weighing over 80kg cannot be lifted.”
Council-supplied compostable liners are the only type of liners permitted for use in the FOGO kitchen caddies.
Each household that receives kerbside waste collection was delivered a new roll of liners in May this year, and each roll contains enough liners for 2-3 per week for a year.
However, if you do run out of liners, a new roll can be collected for free at the Customer Service desk at the Wagga Wagga Civic Centre.
