Two LGAs are collaborating to speed up progress on a new kerbside collection service aimed at reducing waste in the Hunter.
City of Newcastle (CN) and Port Stephens Council have issued a tender for food and garden organics (FOGO) to be processed at a third-party facility.
It’s part of their plans to introduce an accessible FOGO service in mid- 2027.
The preferred tenderer will be deliberated at both councils’ respective meetings next week.
CN CEO Jeremy Bath said each organisation would run FOGO services independently; however, the joint nature of the tender took advantage of current cost measures to enable improved outcomes for the individual areas.
“We are committed to delivering waste and recycling services that are responsible,
environmentally sustainable and commercially feasible, now and into the future,” he explained.
“While both Newcastle and Port Stephens currently accept garden organics as part of their kerbside collections, we are working towards the introduction of a new FOGO service in each LGA mid-2027.”
Although both regions offer garden waste in kerbside collection, the new development will see them achieve the NSW Government’s statewide mandate for new FOGO collection services by three years.
According to the National Food Waste Benchmark data, 1.7 million tonnes of food is wasted in NSW annually.
But, once initialised, FOGO services are expected to divert an additional 10,00 tonnes from landfill each year.
Port Stephens general manager Tim Crosdale said council was excited about the step forward.
“This includes planning for the development of the next landfill cell at Summerhill, which has recently started, and working towards the implementation of the new weekly FOGO service, which meets the expectations of our community, who are supportive of measures to divert waste from landfill,” he added.
Current waste is transferred to Summerhill Waste Management Centre each year before being transported to an external site to be processed into compost.
The latest council alliance coincides with the first introduction of FOGO business mandates, too.
From 1 July, by law, businesses will need to separate food waste from general waste as a means of lowering emissions and business costs.
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