How households can help...

Bin audits conducted by Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority (FRWA) have shown that residents within the FRWA collection area were filling 44% of their general waste bins with food organics and compostable paper. This is sent direct to landfill, with resultant costs and no benefit to the environment.

When Kangaroo Island residents divert food waste and compostable paper to the green bins, this waste can be processed in the HotRot in-vessell system at the KIRCC and be converted into valuable mulch for the Island.

The key to increasing your household’s FOGO is to use a kitchen caddy in your kitchen food preparation area.

All kitchen food organics, including plate scrapings can be placed in the kitchen caddy ready for disposal in the green organics bin, including:

Fruit and vegetable peelings Meat and bones Poultry and seafood Baked goods – bread, cakes and pastries Tea bags and coffee grounds Eggshells, pasta, rice and dairy products Paper and cardboard including pizza boxes Uneaten takeaway food

Kitchen caddies and compostable bags are available for purchase from Kangaroo Island Council. For a short time, households are able to purchase a kitchen caddy (which comes with a roll of compostable bags) and a second roll of compostable bags at a 50% discounted rate.

Compostable Bags are used as caddy liners and can be tied at the top to contain food organics before disposal in the green organics bin. Compostable bags break down in the presence of heat, moisture and oxygen leaving no toxic residue.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT put plastic bags into the green bin - plastic bags, even those marked as biodegradable or degradable merely break down into smaller pieces of plastic. They are not compostable.

For more information, download the FRWA FOGO Fact Sheet from here.

Can Business FOGO?

The Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority (FRWA) conducted a Business Food Waste Trial Project to increase the rate of diversion of Food Organics and Green Organics (FOGO) into the green organics waste stream.

Any FOGO diverted from landfill is then retained and processed on Kangaroo Island in the new HotRot In-vessel composting system installed at the Kangaroo Island Resource Recovery Centre (KIRRC) in June 2019.

Click here for the full FRWA report on the Business Food Waste Trial Project.

For articles about this trial by      The Islander :

• Introducing the trial program click here.
• Reporting on the progress of the trial click here.