Hawkesbury City Council will shift its planned transition to the Food Organics Green Organics (FOGO) bin system from 1 July 2027 to 1 July 2029 to allow more time for an innovative waste trial to be held.
The NSW Government requires all councils to implement a FOGO kerbside service by 2030 in an effort to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and reduce carbon emissions.
In the meantime, Council is partnering with ARC Ento Tech to trial one of Australia's first waste-to-resource facilities at the Hawkesbury Waste Management Facility with the aim of initially diverting 20 tonnes of food and organic waste per day as part of the small-scale trial, converting it into fertiliser, biofuel and livestock feed instead of burying it in landfill. Construction on the trial site at the Waste Management Facility is underway.
The twelve-month trial, which will commence in January 2026, seeks to help extend the life of the waste management facility and reduce methane emissions from food and other organic matter decomposing in the landfill. This trial could also save ratepayers money by bypassing the need to introduce the FOGO system, while also generating a new income stream for Council through the sale of the fertiliser, biofuel and livestock feed.
Transitioning to the FOGO system will require a 12-18 month lead time. Postponing the planned FOGO commencement date by two years will allow the trial to take place and the results to be fully known prior to any work needing to commence on a FOGO system. Should the ARC Ento Tech trial be a success, Council will seek exemption from establishing a FOGO waste system from the NSW Government.
How does the ARC Ento Tech trial work?
The process uses the black soldier fly – an insect endemic in Australia. This fly is not attracted to homes or humans. The fly larvae feed on the food and organic waste from Council's weekly red bin collections and excrete a by-product that can be collected and potentially used or on-sold as a valuable fertiliser. The larvae themselves have the potential to be on-sold as livestock feed at the end of their lifecycle. Residual organic and inorganic by-products are also captured for processing and repurposing as a biofuel.
