We are pleased to announce that there are now 76 dual purpose food and garden organics (FOGO) and glass recycling hubs across the City of Port Phillip – and four FOGO only hubs. This completes our planned rollout as outlined in our Don’t Waste It! Waste Management Strategy. Our communal hubs enable residents to divert food and garden waste from landfill – and minimise glass contamination in our recycling streams.
Community feedback about the hubs was overwhelmingly positive right from the beginning. One group of Port Melbourne residents even petitioned to have an additional FOGO hub installed on the corner of Ingles and Garton streets, which we delivered in March 2023.
Helen, who led the petition, said: “The best part about having our FOGO hub is knowing that all our food and organic waste is going to be reused in compost, rather than going to landfill. It’s certainly reduced our waste by about 50 per cent.”
The residents have come to see the hub as more than just a recycling drop-off point. “It’s a community gathering place, it’s quite social. We go down with our little bins (kitchen caddies), and we all have a chat and have a bit of a laugh.”
The story of Port Phillip residents petitioning for an additional FOGO communal hub.
About our communal glass hubs
When glass is placed in recycling bins, sometimes it can shatter – and broken glass contaminates other materials like paper, cardboard and plastic, making them harder to recycle. This is one of the reasons why we and other local governments are providing a separated glass recycling service to our community.
Kerbside glass trials carried out in 2020 demonstrated that many households don’t generate enough glass to make a kerbside service viable. This is why we have provided separated glass recycling through our communal hubs.
About our communal FOGO hubs
The City of Port Phillip has a unique housing demographic, with the majority of our dwellings classified as medium or high density compared to Greater Melbourne. In addition to this, many of our standalone houses have limited outdoor and garden space with no room for additional kerbside bins.
This is why we have established communal FOGO hubs, to allow residents that don’t have room for a FOGO bin to drop off their FOGO materials for recycling. The service is also designed for those in apartments that have not yet received their own kerbside service – and for those who are not on a Council waste collection. Any resident can use our communal FOGO hubs.
Communal hubs near you
Our communal hubs are located at various locations across the city. The best way to find your nearest hub is by referring to our interactive map. If you would like a communal hub closer to where you live, please let us know via submitting a request here to contact a Council officer.
FOGO for apartments and unit blocks
In November of this year, we started the roll out of kerbside FOGO recycling to eligible apartments and unit blocks:
- This first phase delivered the service to residents who receive a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday collection.
- Those on a Wednesday and Friday collection will receive FOGO recycling in 2024. We encourage this group of residents to use our communal hubs in the meantime.
Let us know how we’re doing
If you have any feedback or questions about the communal hubs, please let us know. You can lodge a query in My Port Phillip anytime, or you can contact ASSIST on 03 9209 6777.
