Thumbs up for FOGO bins…almost

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 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.

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).

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.

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.