Two sets of grants totalling more than $2.8 million across 30 council areas will be a boon for recycling food waste right across NSW.
The first set of grants totalling $240,150 are part of the NSW Environment Protection Authority's (EPA) Scrap Together FOGO education campaign, which will see residents in 25 local council areas armed with the knowledge to become even better food waste recyclers.
The second set of FOGO grants totalling $2.6 million will give residents of six council areas access to organics waste recycling.
Head of EPA Organics Amanda Kane said the projects built on a multi-million-dollar investment in kerbside food waste recycling that first started in 2013.
"The NSW Government leads the way when it comes to food waste recycling, thanks to the strong support from many NSW councils that already offer food organics and garden organics (FOGO) services to their residents.
"The new Scrap Together grants, rolling out across 25 council areas, will remind households of the environmental benefits of turning food waste into compost. If past results are anything to go by, the educational campaigns will increase recycling of food waste while reducing what goes into landfill.
"Food waste sent to landfill in the red lid bin rots, generating greenhouse gas emissions, whereas in the green lid bin it gets processed into beneficial compost and returned back to the land."
Ms Kane said a further six councils will receive a share of $2.6 million through the Organics Collections grants program, which means they will be able to introduce FOGO services or trial food-only services in multi-unit dwellings.
"These grants are the latest in the NSW Government's investment to transform organics recovery in NSW. They include funding for regional councils like Hay Shire Council and Kyogle, as well as metropolitan councils like Bayside and Canada Bay in Sydney."
Across NSW, the Organics Collections grant funding helps recover more than 200,000 tonnes of food and garden waste each year and reduces CO2 -e emissions by 350,000 tonnes a year.
The Organics Collections grants are delivered via a partnership between the EPA and the NSW Environmental Trust. They provide up to $1.3 million per grant for infrastructure like bins and kitchen caddies to help transition to the new services.
Meanwhile, the Scrap Together grants provide $10,000 for each council to deliver EPA-designed content, including videos, radio ads, mailbox drops and print advertising.
But these grants are just the beginning of a campaign to reduce food waste from entering landfill.
Ms Kane said the NSW Government had allocated an additional $69 million over the next five years to further expand FOGO services and support councils to meet new requirements under the Government's Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041, which aims to provide FOGO services to all NSW households by 2030.
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