The Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy (WaSM) released in June 2021 requires:
- Councils to provide FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) services to all households by 2030
- Large food wasting businesses to source separate food waste by 2025 – hospitality, retail, and institution sectors (hospitals, schools, correctional centres etc)
- Larger supermarkets to report on food donation from 2025
The WaSM allocates $69 million to the Net Zero Organics program to 2027 to deliver on the following targets:
- halve organics waste to landfill
- 80% of all waste recovered
- halve food waste by 2030
- net zero emissions of organics waste in landfill by 2030 (Net Zero Plan commitment)
The source separation requirements will divert up to 800,000 tonnes of organics waste a year to be recycled into compost.
The NSW EPA is encouraging councils to support end markets by buying back FOGO organic compost and using it on its parks and playing fields. Already, Penrith and other councils are using organic compost to build and maintain superior playing fields.
Properly developed and maintained natural turf fields can achieve capacity of 50 hours per week or more.
Cool Compost
- The EPA has been supporting end markets for the recycled product, compost, through a $7.5 million Organic Market Development (OMD) Program, delivering grants, industry training and research. Strong markets are essential to ensure the economic viability of organics processing.
- To leverage the outcomes from the grant projects, the EPA developed a project called ‘Cool Compost’
- Cool Compost aims to further increase awareness of the benefits of compost made from FOGO and increase demand for compost in five markets, including councils.
- The result is five videos and five podcasts telling the whole story for each audience, with Show Notes providing additional info and resources.
- The Council show notes include links to projects showcasing the benefits of compost in stormwater filtration and playing fields.
- More at www.epa.nsw.gov.au/fogo and https://circularag.com.au/compost/