Parramatta’s residents got FOGO bins. Problem is, their landfill has not reduced

The City of Parramatta’s food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin service has failed to significantly reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill, and has blown its budget by more than $9 million in the first six months of operation.

The council implemented the first stage of its two-stage FOGO program in November 2024, hoping it would reduce landfill waste by 40 per cent. But contrary to council expectations, a “late surge” of residents decided to pay extra to keep their 140-litre bins, instead of swapping to an 80-litre one.

Now the council’s six-month update reveals that since the program’s success “relies heavily on the use of the 80 [litre] bins”, which are small enough to force people to sort their rubbish into the correct bins, there has been no decrease in landfill.

“Despite the introduction of FOGO, total red bin disposal volumes (tonnes) have remained steady rather than decreasing as anticipated,” the report said, adding that there were concerns about future participation in the scheme if the trend continued.

The FOGO program asks residents to separate food and garden waste from the rest of their household rubbish, to be used as compost and to avoid landfill.

Councils give residents a benchtop caddy to store kitchen scraps, before placing them in a larger green bin that is collected weekly. In most Sydney council areas, traditional red bins are shrunk and collected fortnightly. The program is growing across Sydney and will be compulsory in NSW by 2030.

At Parramatta, the program cost $9,201,000 more than the council had budgeted. About $4.5 million of that cost was attributed to additional charges associated with red bin disposals, which cost $127.67 more per tonne than disposing of green bin waste, the report said.

The council had also failed to adequately predict the drastic rise in service requests during the program’s rollout: it planned for a 20 per cent rise in requests (such as for missed pick-ups, bin upgrades or bin removals), but there was a 53 per cent increase.

Staff had to be seconded from other parts of the council to address the surge in requests. The council also engaged labour hire and approved overtime, resulting in $503,000 in unexpected spending.

The first stage of the program was focused on providing FOGO bins to residents in houses and complexes with fewer than 30 dwellings. The second stage will roll out the bins to larger apartment blocks.

A council spokesperson said the program was “still early days and continuous education is essential to embed and sustain behavioural change”.

“We thank the many people from our community who have embraced the program and the opportunity to reduce waste going to landfill and deliver positive benefits for our environment.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email parramatta@smh.com.au with news tips.