FOGO Waste Recycling Service

FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics. Hunters Hill is rolling out a new green- lid FOGO bin, which will replace your current green-lid garden organics bin. Instead of placing your food waste in the red lid garbage bin, residents can recycle their food scraps (vegetables, fruits, meat, bread, eggshells etc) and garden matter (flowers, leaves) in the green lid FOGO bin.

You can expect to receive your new FOGO bin in June 2026 and the FOGO bin service will start in July 2026.  Residents of unit complexes will receive one green-lid FOGO bin for every 10 units. Your existing garden organics bin will be removed and recycled by our contractor and you will be notified when this happens closer to the date.  

All residents will receive a benchtop kitchen caddy, including a six-month supply of certified compostable liners (re-supply will occur every six months)

Food waste accounts for approximately 43% of the material collected in our red lidded bins. This waste is sent to landfill where it becomes a significant source of methane - a harmful greenhouse gas. Methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and a major cause of climate change. Collecting food waste separately means it can be processed into beneficial resources rather than creating harmful greenhouse gases.  

• Fruit and vegetables
• Bread, rice, and cereals
• Meat, bones and seafood
• Dairy products, eggs and eggshells
• Cakes, biscuits and sweets
• Coffee grinds and tea leaves

Food that is still in its packaging. Please remove all packaging first.

The green-lidded FOGO bin and general waste bin will be collected weekly while the other two recycling bins will be collected on a fortnightly basis.

We love composting and would encourage all of our local composters to keep their home compost systems running and use the food waste bin for items such as dairy, bones, meat and fish scraps that are generally best kept out of home compost bins.

Council will provide each household a supply of caddy liners every six months. If you run out, contact Council to purchase more. You can also line your caddy with newspaper or place food scraps directly into the caddy. 

Yes. Council will provide compostable liners as part of your FOGO starter kit, with additional liners delivered approximately every six months.

Residents may also choose to use their own certified compostable liners, which can be purchased from supermarkets or hardware stores.

You can also wrap food scraps in newspaper or paper towels or place them directly in the kitchen caddy without a liner.

Plastic bags and biodegradable plastic bags cannot be used in the FOGO bin.

We recommend giving the caddy a wash with dish soap and water each time you empty it. The caddy is also dishwasher safe.

Council will replace broken or damaged caddies so please contact council if this happens. 

Everything going into your food scraps bin is the same as what was going into your red-lidded bin so the bins will not attract rodents any more than a normal garbage bin will. Try to keep your food scraps caddy away from sunlight and in a cool, dry place in your kitchen.

The lid on the caddy locks firmly and could not cause problems if you make sure the caddy lid is shut firmly and empty it regularly. In hot weather, caddies and food waste bins may attract vinegar flies. These small flies can be avoided by sprinkling bi-carb soda on the base of the food bin. 

Your food waste is taken to the Eastern Creek Waste Management Centre, where it is recycled into useful products. It is processed to create nutrient-rich material for improving soil, and biogas that is used to generate renewable energy instead of going to landfill.

If your caddy starts to smell, it’s probably time to empty it into the FOGO food waste bin. We also recommend washing the caddy with dish soap and water each time you empty it.