Thumbs up for FOGO bins…almost

Published on 06 December 2023

Our bin auditors have been looking in randomly selected bins across the shire recently to get a snapshot of what’s going into our bins.

We caught up with auditors, Alex and Justine as they methodically sorted every item in two cubic meters of food and green waste from our FOGO bins.

They found we’re doing a pretty good job correctly using our FOGO bins, however there are a few problem items:

Compostable bags

The biggest issue is the use of GLAD compostable kitchen caddy liners and GLAD to be Green 50% plant based bags.

Widely available from supermarkets, these bags are NOT accepted in our FOGO bin.

The GLAD compostable kitchen caddy liners do not adequately break down during the composting process, even though the AS4736 seedling logo is on the logo. This failure to breakdown down completely can also impact the breakdown of the food inside the bag.
The GLAD to be Green 50% plant based bags are also NOT accepted because they are made from 50% plastic.

Council provides FREE replacement compostable bags which you can pick up from:

Anglesea, Lorne and Winchelsea Transfer Stations
Lorne Visitor Information Centre
Council office in Merrijig Drive, Torquay
Torquay residential waste drop-off, 130 Messmate Road

Using the caddy liners is optional and a sheet of paper towel, or folded newspaper in the bottom works just as well.

Perhaps keep the compostable bags for more smelly foods, and put your veggie scraps straight into the green-lidded kerbside bin.

Plastic plant pots

Plastic plant pots are NOT compostable.

Black pots aren't even accepted in the yellow-lidded recycling bin because the sorting machinery at the recycling facility does not identify and correctly sort the pots.

All black and other coloured plant pots are accepted in the hard plastics collection bin at the Anglesea Transfer Station, or take them back to the nursery or retailer so they can be used again.

Plant description tags

Small plastic tags are NOT compostable, and they cannot be recycled in the recycling bin either.

Return them to the nursery for reuse, or put them in your landfill bin (red lid).

Plastic plant ties

Very handy for tying up plants, but NOT compostable.

These small pieces of plastic or wire wrapped in plastic are difficult to remove from the tonnes of food and green waste on the sorting line, which means they mostly end up in the final compost product and become litter in paddocks and orchards where compost is spread.

Treated and painted timber

Our compost contractor also reports that too much treated and painted timber from bins across the shire is found in the FOGO stream.

The paint and timber treatments contain chemicals that will make the final compost product unusable.

Take your painted timber and treated timber to a transfer station instead (fees will apply) or put it in the landfill bin (red lid).