We often hear people think it doesn't matter which bin you put your waste into. If you knew how untrue that is, and how easily you could make a real difference, you would likely be happy to make some small changes.
If you have a green FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) bin in Playford you're one of around 20,000 people who do, and you're in a prime position to help make some real change with your treatment of household food waste.
Our residents with FOGO bins do a pretty good job of using the bin to dispose of garden waste, but currently, there is too much food waste going into the red bin (around one third of the contents) which ends up in landfill - and that's a double loss.
The first loss is environmental; food waste in the red bin goes to landfill where it off-gasses into greenhouse gases which is bad for the environment. If it goes into the green bin it is processed to create rich compost to use in our soils, which is great for the environment.
The second loss is financial; processing food waste is considerably more cost efficient when it goes into the green bin than the red.
So ANY piece of food you divert to your green bin is going to make a huge difference! You can make sure fruit and vegetable scraps, paper towels, tissues, oily cardboard such as pizza boxes, meat waste, citrus peels, and even pet poo never end up in landfill. This simple change of routine by green bin users can make a significant impact in our community. The power is in your hands!
So what else goes into the FOGO bin?
As a general rule of thumb, remember the saying 'if it grows, it goes.' In other words, if it was once 'alive' then it's good to go into the FOGO bin!
- Any food waste
- Egg cartons
- Pet poo
- Tree cuttings and lawn clippings
- Hair and nail clippings
- Pizza boxes, cardboard and paper (they're compostable because they were made of trees - which grow!)
- Pencil and wood shavings (ditto)
- Old flowers
- Fallen leaves
