The ACT Government is strengthening Canberra’s circular economy by investing in a large-scale Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) facility to process local waste.
“We are investing in new waste infrastructure that will support Canberrans to take everyday action on climate change and reduce our city’s future emissions,” said Minister for Transport and City Services Chris Steel.
“Our significant capital works pipeline isn’t just delivering new jobs and better infrastructure for our city; projects like this will help make it more sustainable too.
“The Government would build a large-scale FOGO processing facility as an essential step towards rolling out a Canberra-wide FOGO collection service.
“Food and garden waste can be transformed into nutrient-rich compost and removing these items from our landfill will help cut waste emissions by up to 30 percent.” said Minister Steel.
“The FOGO pilot in Belconnen has been very successful, with more than 480 tonnes of material already collected. That’s enough to comfortably cover the entire playing surface of GIO Stadium.”
The early results of the Belconnen FOGO trial have been very promising – with Canberrans achieving an incredibly low waste contamination rate of less than 0.1 per cent during the first three months of the pilot’s operation.
“Now we’re getting on with the job of building the processing infrastructure necessary expand the service to the rest of Canberra,” Minister Steel said.
A feasibility study has identified available land at the Hume Resource Recovery Estate as the location for a FOGO composting facility, adjacent to the existing Materials Recovery Facility at Mugga Lane.
The study recommended an in-vessel composting facility be built, capable of processing 50,000 tonnes of FOGO material per year. The facility will be designed to expand to take up to 70,000 tonnes per year to meet future demand.
In-vessel composting contains the material within a vessel or building where aeration and temperature is controlled to optimise the composting process. The in-vessel process means that odour can be controlled easily in the enclosed facility and this type of composting requires less land than open composting methods.
The government will release a tender for the new facility later this year. While the facility is under development, the government will continue planning for a citywide roll out of household FOGO collection services.
This will include undertaking a survey of all participants in the current FOGO trial in Belconnen – via letterbox drop and email – to understand their experiences and views.
“FOGO is a key part of our plans for Canberra’s circular economy – turning things currently considered waste into valuable products like compost, which can be used in agriculture, viticulture and the parks and gardens of our whole region,” said Minister Steel.
