Ipswich rubbish bin trial: What it means for waste collection and future citywide rollout

General waste bins will only be collected once every two weeks as part of a new trial in Ipswich. The council wants to roll it out citywide within the next three years.

About 1000 households in Ipswich will take part in the food organics and garden organics (FOGO) trial from September.

The head of Ipswich’s ratepayers association said he supported the council’s controversial rubbish trial which will see the collection of general waste bins cut back to a fortnightly service, in an effort to cut back on the volume of organic material heading to landfill.

The year-long food organics and garden organics (FOGO) trial will start in September for 1000 households in Bellbird Park and Raceview.

Participating residents will get a 240-litre green-top for food scraps, grass clippings and other organic material which will be collected weekly.

Ipswich Ratepayers and Residents Association and Ipswich Ratepayers Against Toxic Environments president Jim Dodrill said he supported the council trial.

But their red-top bins will only be picked up once every two weeks.

Households selected for the trial, which will cost the city’s ratepayers about $200,000 over the course of 12 months, can’t opt out of it.

Ipswich City Council adopted a new 10-year waste strategy in July, which means glass can now be put in yellow-top bins after a three-year absence.

The organisation plans to introduce the FOGO service for all residents by 2024.

The council intends to revise its bin collection cycle upon the rollout of the “three core bin system” in 2023-24, which would see the green-lid collected once a week and yellow and red-lid bins both collected once a fortnight citywide.

Ipswich Ratepayers and Residents Association and Ipswich Ratepayers Against Toxic Environments president Jim Dodrill said he backed the scheme and stressed it was only a trial.

“I think it’s a great idea in principle,” he said.

“I think it shows the council are actually looking at new ways of managing waste.

“We know that the council are looking to change things. We do encourage the council to continue down this path and trial some of the options that are available. Eventually they’ll get it right. We have got to be careful about who they use and where this waste ends up.”

Participating residents will have their red-top bin collected once a fortnight, instead of weekly, from September.

But Mr Dodrill said he had concerns about the private waste company which will be handling the waste for the trial.

Local operator NuGrow, which has clashed with the council and the state government this year, is already contracted to handle the council’s green waste service.

“Council already operates in the waste operations environment,” Mr Dodrill said.

“They run and manage all the waste transfer stations and they do the kerbside collection. We want to know why council won’t do this as well.

“We don’t think it’s a good use of ratepayer money to go to an external contractor.

“We’re quite aware of what the council’s current thinking is in relation to waste management. That doesn’t necessarily fit in with the practices of some of the contractors that the council is currently using.”

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the contract to process the city’s green waste has been held by NuGrow since 2017.

“As this contract already covers the collection of food and garden organics, there was no requirement to establish a new contract for council’s current FOGO trial,” she said.

“Council’s regular green waste service has already recovered and composted more than 6,000 tonnes of valuable organic materials that would have been lost to landfill.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said NuGrow had held the contract to process the city’s green waste since 2017.

“Around another 20,000 tonnes of green waste materials from council’s recycling and refuse centres is also processed annually by NuGrow.

“Ipswich City Council has its own internal waste business unit, Ipswich Waste Services. IWS will use its existing green waste collection vehicles to collect FOGO material during the trial. Therefore, no external contract is required for waste collection during the trial.

“It is anticipated the 12-month FOGO trial will cost council approximately $200,000 and these costs will be managed within the IWS’s normal operating budget.

“These costs include additional FOGO bins, fee waivers for current green waste customers, and engagement and communications with trial participants throughout the trial.

“Some of these costs will be offset by the reduction in waste being sent to landfill.

“The lessons from this trial such as participation rates, contamination rates, effective communication methods, diversion rates of waste to landfill and the changes to the waste and recycling bins will play a critical role in the introduction of a citywide FOGO service in 2023-2024.”

More than 70 councils across Australia have already implemented FOGO services and the New South Wales Government has announced it will make FOGO collection mandatory for all councils by 2030.

Gold Coast, Brisbane, Lockyer Valley, Rockhampton and Townsville councils will all undertake a FOGO trial at the same time as Ipswich.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.