Food and Garden Organics

Your organics bin is now referred to as a Food and Organics bin.

You can now recycle both food and garden waste in this bin, which will allows you to:

  • Free up space in your garbage bin;
  • turn waste into compost; and
  • stop food ending up in landfill.

On average, your garbage bin contains 50% of food waste.

If every household in Hume composted or put their food waste into their organics bin instead of their garbage bin, we could save over 27,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill every year. This is equivalent to 2,500 garbage trucks.

Caddy

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A caddy makes it easy to collect food scraps as you prepare meals and clean up leftovers.

  • Place the caddy on your kitchen benchtop and
  • once it is full, you empty it into your Food and Organics bin.

Please do not use any bags or liners to wrap food scraps, including compostable or biodegradable bags as they cannot be processed through our facilities and will end up in landfill.

 Order your caddy

Please note the link above to order your caddy is currently down. We are working to resolve this issue, and hope to have it back up and running in the next 24 hours. Thank you for your patience.

What goes in your FOGO bin?

One way to think about it is - if it didn't live or grow, it isn't FOGO.

  • All food leftovers (including meat and seafood)
  • Garden organics (including grass and small cuttings)

FOGO bin contents will be composted, so you can also put small amounts of paper in (such as used kitchen paper towels). It is essential to keep all plastic, aluminium, glass and anything labelled ‘biodegradable’ out of the FOGO bin.

More information on FOGO do's and don'ts

Add FOGO to your bin service

 

 If you wrap your food waste, please use a sheet of paper towel or newspaper. Make sure to remove all packaging from food (even the stickers you find on fruit) and place packaging in the appropriate bin. Try to layer garden materials over your food waste in the bin.  

No bags or any types of liners, including compostable or biodegradable bags into the bin. It is very important that food waste is placed ‘loose’ into the bin as bags and liners cannot be processed and will end up in landfill.

 

 

Some handy tips you can use to keep your Bin and kitchen caddy fresh : 

  • Keep your bin and caddy out of direct sunlight.
  • Wrapping your food waste in a small paper towel or newspaper before placing it in your bin.
  • Keep the lids closed when not in use.
  • Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on the bottom of your caddy and bin.
  • Layering your food waste with garden materials such as dried grass clippings and leaves.
  • Empty your caddy at least every 2 to 3 days and in warmer months, every 1 to 2 days.
  • Take your bin even if its not full on your organics collection day

 

Compost bins, worm farms, and Bokashi buckets are great and inexpensive ways to easily recycle your food waste. There are lots of composting options, what may be suitable for you depends on the space you have, the waste you have and how much time you want to invest.

We have partnered with Compost Community a free education program to make it easy for you to recycle your food waste. All the Information you need to start your journey it right here

Starting your home own compost

All Hume residents can enjoy a 70 per cent discount on compost bins, worm farms and bokashi systems.

To access discounted prices, all you need to do is:

  1. Join Compost Community
  2. Read about what composting system might be best for your household
  3. Order your product and will be delivered free.

 

Discounted products are only available to Hume residents (homeowners and renters). One composting system is available per household.

A limited number of products and discounts are available per year. To learn more about composting and worm farming visit the how to guide.

 

The best way to reduce food waste is to not create it in the first place. Better planning, smarter shopping and smart food storage are simple actions you can take to reduce avoidable waste.

The average household throws away around $2,200 each year in food, or approximately one in every five shopping bags of groceries. Most of this is food that otherwise could have been avoided and eaten.

You can save money and avoid food waste with some easy and practical steps at home and the grocery store.

 Planning your meals:

  • Meal planning for the week is easy and fun. This will help you buy the right amount of ingredients for the week so you can avoid unnecessary left-over ingredients.
  • Write, and stick to, your shopping list. This makes shopping less stressful and expensive too!
  • Check your fridge and pantry before you leave for the store – there might be ingredients you already have that you can use.

Storing food well:

  • Use clear containers or jars to store food, so you know what you have and it’s easy to see.
  • Keep food closer to their use-by closest to the front of your fridge or pantry, and within your line of sight.
  • Freezer stored food should be separated into portions so you can defrost what you need 

Cooking:

  • Use up any leftovers to create delicious new meals. Don’t let then sit in the fridge.
  • Use the whole vegetable or fruit when you can, including the skins! Think stalks and leaves of cauliflower, broccoli, and celery, and using the root to tip of herbs.

 

Hungry for more food waste resources?

Try our Compost Community

Find out more at Love Food Hate Waste.

Foodwise website & Sustainable Table

 

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