Green waste bins could be compulsory for Bundaberg residents by 2026

The cost to ratepayers can be revealed as Bundaberg council is set to decide if it should introduce a new food and garden waste bin, with the trial alone to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Green bin container filled with garden waste. Hands wearing gardening gloves doing spring clean up in the garden. Recycling garbage for a better environment.

Council will decide whether to proceed with a detailed business case which could kick off a trial to see green waste recycling implemented in local households.

A business case to introduce a Food Organics and Garden Organics service in 2026 will be tabled at a council meeting on Friday.

Proceeding with the trial won’t be voted on until February next year after a detailed business case is created.

The council-funded $70,000 trial would run from July 2023 to December 2023 and involve 600 households in selected areas.

That would equate to about $116 per household.

Green waste bins could be rolled out in Bundaberg. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The trial would involve a weekly FOGO 240ltr bin service, fortnightly residual 240ltd bin service and a fortnightly recycle 240ltr bin service.

No additional waste charges would occur for those in the trial areas.

Once collected, waste would be processed at one of three possible FOGO sites.

Proposed FOGO processors listed are Green Solutions (Greensill Farming), Oreco and NuGrow.

Each processor would break the waste down into products such as bags of compost and mulch, which can then be sold to the public.

FOGO processors would break the waste down into products such as bags of compost and mulch and sell it in bags. Picture: Green Solutions Wide Bay.

Council state that providing waste to a FOGO processor would remove capital expenditure by Council on a new collections depot of $3m.

If the trial is successful, FOGO could be implemented at all households as early as 2026.

A downside to the program is an increased cost to ratepayers, according to the business case.

The new charges would cost ratepayers $467 per year, which includes a $20 FOGO surcharge.

The business case said Bundaberg was not achieving its waste targets.

“The Queensland Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy has waste diversion from landfill targets for 2030 as being 70% of all Municipal Solid Waste (collections and waste facility wastes combined),” the business case reads.

“Currently Bundaberg is only achieving 16% diversion from the Waste Collections service.”

Council stated that introducing FOGO would remove capital expenditure by Council on between four and five trucks and 26,400 bins, with a saving of $3.5m.