In a continued effort to enhance awareness and participation in the Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) program, Snowy Monaro Regional Council is set to unveil 150 A3-size stickers on FOGO bins across the Cooma region.
These eye-catching stickers are part of Council's FOGO education initiative and carry a simple message: "if it grows, it goes" in your lime-green lidded FOGO bins. Stickers feature a QR code linking to Council's FOGO webpage, providing easy access to FOGO guidelines.
The stickers will be placed on randomly selected bins in high-traffic areas throughout Cooma over the coming weeks.
FOGO collected from household bins in Cooma is taken to Council's local waste processing facility, where it is turned into environmentally friendly compost. This compost is available for purchase by local residents and businesses.
Compared to letting this organic material break down in landfill, commercial scale composting avoids the creation of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every week in our region alone.
Residents waking up to find their FOGO bins adorned with a new sticker need not worry that they've done something wrong. The new look only means that their bin is in a prime location to help spread the word about responsible FOGO practices.
Accompanying this initiative, Council's waste education team will deliver letters to residents whose bins receive stickers, explaining their purpose.
Council launched a renewed FOGO education campaign in late 2023. This project seeks to give residents the information they need to understand what FOGO is, why it matters, and why doing the right thing with their household FOGO bin is important.
The launch of this initiative coincides with Council's plans to rollout FOGO collection services across the wider Snowy Monaro, in line with requirements set out in the NSW Government's Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041.
Highlighting how far our region still has to go with our approach to FOGO, the four week period between 14 November and 14 December 2023 saw 23.61 tonnes of collected organic material dumped due to contamination.
Instead of becoming compost, this contaminated green waste will instead break down in landfill, releasing many tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
Mayor Chris Hanna emphasised the importance of fostering a community-wide understanding around FOGO.
'These stickers are a visual reminder to our community that every effort they make with FOGO contributes to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly region,' said Mayor Hanna.
