A roll of liners will be provided with the kitchen caddy, which should last for several months. When you run out, you can pick up a roll of liners from our Nunawading Customer Service Centre. (Limit of two per household per financial year and subject to availability).

Alternatively: 

• Use paper towel or newspaper to line your caddy
• Place items loose in your caddy (rinse regularly)
• Purchase liners from selected supermarkets, garden supply stores or online suppliers. If you purchase your own liners, they must be:
  • lime-green in colour (the same colour of the role provided in your kit)
  • a certified compostable liner (see logos below)

Examples of accepted liners include:

• Biotuff 8L compostable bin liners
• Compost-A-Pak 8L kitchen caddy liners
• Maze 9L slim compostable bin liners
• Awesome Pack 8L compostable bin liners
• Onya 8L compostable bin liners
• Cardia 8L compostable bin liners
• Envirostar 8L compostable liners

If you own your property and use council issued garbage and recycling bins, you can order your FOGO bin. 

If you rent your property, reach out to your property manager/real estate agent/landlord to request a FOGO bin. We suggest attaching the following document to this request:

• An exclusive leasing and managing authority form to be filled out by estate agents and attached when requesting a new bin service from Council.
• Kerbside bin provision authority form ( PDF 161.07KB) when requesting new garbage or Food Organics and Garden Organics Service bin service.

If you’re unsure whether your property is eligible for a FOGO bin, please call us on (03) 9262 6333.

No, if you already have a FOGO bin, you don’t need a different/additional bin. We are just upgrading the existing garden organics recycling service.

If you don’t have a FOGO bin (lime green lid), you might be eligible to order one online. Or, find out more before ordering one.

At this stage, there are no changes to collection frequencies. Currently not all households in the municipality have the service or are eligible.The garbage bin will be collected weekly on your collection day and the food and garden organics bin will be collected fortnightly, alternate to your recycling bin. Find your bin collection day and schedule.

If you are concerned about smells, please consider the following:

• Use the caddy and liners provided and replace the liners regularly
• Store your caddy and bin out of direct sunlight where possible
• Tie the liner up before placing it in the organics bin
• sprinkle some baking soda on your food waste to reduce the smell
• Use stale bread, food-soiled paper or old newspaper to absorb excess moisture
• Wrap smelly items in newspaper or paper towel before placing into your liner
• Let hot food cool down before placing it in your caddy
• Keep your bin lid and caddy lid closed
• Layer your food waste with garden waste in your bin
• Freeze or refrigerate smelly food waste such as meat in an airtight container and place it in your food and garden organics bin on the day of collection
• Place your FOGO bin out each fortnight, even if it isn't full.
• Wash your kitchen caddy and bin regularly with water (avoid chemicals) and add a slug of lemon juice or tea tree oil to help reduce odour. Alternatively enzyme based cleaners can be purchased online
• Add dry materials in your organics bin such as shredded paper, dry leaves or dry grass to reduce odour
• Rethink your waste, consider finding ways to reduce the amount of food wasted or try cutting back on meat to maximise your environmental impact. Visit the Reducing Food Waste Page for tips to reduce food waste. 

If you are still concerned with smells, you can recycle food that is less likely to cause smells, such as fruit and vegetable peelings, bread, tea bags and eggshells. Smelly foods such as meat, bones and cooked leftovers can still go in your general waste bin or you can just place food scraps in the week of collection, every bit counts.

If a school, childcare service or kinder has a FOGO bin provided by Council, or would like to order one, we are able to supply a caddy and roll of liners.

If they are interested, they can contact customer service on (03) 9262 6333.

There are ways you can reduce the smell:

• Use the caddy and liners provided and replace the liners regularly
• Store your caddy and bin out of direct sunlight where possible
• Tie the liner up before placing it in the organics bin
• Sprinkle some baking soda on your food waste to reduce the smell
• Use stale bread, food-soiled paper or old newspaper to absorb excess moisture
• Wrap smelly items in newspaper or paper towel before placing into your liner
• Let hot food cool down before placing it in your caddy
• Keep your bin lid and caddy lid closed
• Layer your food waste with garden waste in your bin
• Freeze or refrigerate smelly food waste such as meat in an airtight container and place it in your food and garden organics bin on the day of collection
• Place your FOGO bin out each fortnight, even if it isn't full
• Wash your kitchen caddy and bin regularly with water (avoid chemicals) and add a slug of lemon juice or tea tree oil to help reduce odour. Alternatively enzyme based cleaners can be purchased online
• Add dry materials in your organics bin such as shredded paper, dry leaves or dry grass to reduce odour
• Rethink your waste, consider finding ways to reduce the amount of food wasted or try cutting back on meat to maximise your environmental impact. Visit the Reducing Food Waste Page for tips to reduce food waste. 

If you are still concerned with smells, you can recycle food that is less likely to cause smells, such as fruit and vegetable peelings, bread, loose tea leave and eggshells. Smelly foods such as meat, bones and cooked leftovers can still go in your general waste bin or you can just place food scraps in the week of collection, every bit counts.

When separated from the roll, each individual liner is folded in half and sealed at the bottom. Therefore you need to unfold, open the liner out flat and then rub the top of the bag between your thumb and forefinger. The top of the bag will open allowing it to be placed into the kitchen caddy. Please watch this video for further instructions:

Yes, tissues are accepted in your FOGO bin as they disintegrate by the time they get to the facility.

If you suspect your fruit or veg is diseased or infested, we advise you to avoid placing it in your FOGO bin and reach out to the Department of Primary Industry on 136 186 and they will be able to assist.

It is not uncommon for flies and maggots to be attracted to your FOGO bin as they are attracted to protein sources that may be found in the bin - mostly meat and bones. There is no cause for concern however you can try some of the following tips to avoid them:

• Drain as much liquid as possible from your food scraps
• Wrap meat scraps and bones in a sheet of newspaper before putting them in your FOGO bin
• Freeze meat, fruit and vegetables in newspaper or paper bags and put them in your FOGO bin the night before pick up
• Alternate layers of kitchen waste with layers of paper product
• Line the outer rim of your FOGO bin with salt or vinegar
• Clean your FOGO bin regularly using warm water and mild soap. Wash and rinse your bin on your lawn, not near gutters or storm drains because the rinse water might flow into local creeks and waterways
• Keep the bottom of your FOGO bin dry by lining it with newspaper or paper towel to absorb liquid and prevent material from sticking to it
• Eliminate or minimise smells by sprinkling your bin with vinegar or baking soda
• Store your FOGO bin in a well-ventilated area.

Tips for getting rid of maggots that may be in your FOGO bin:

• Cover them with lime, sale or vinegar
• Spray the top and inside of your bin with vinegar. 

No. Chemicals and herbicides will cause chemical contamination of the final compost. It means that the products will not be suitable for farms.

Avoid placing oyster and clam shells into your FOGO bin as they are too dense and require grinding. Other shells such as crab and lobster shells can go in the FOGO bin.

Shredded paper can go in your FOGO bin in limited quantities.

We also want to be conscious of the weight as it can be too heavy for the kerbside bin. If you have large quantities of shredded paper/documents to dispose of, please use private companies to do so.

No, animal waste or dead animals are considered as biohazards and are an OH&S risk for workers.

Unfortunately, it is hard to recognise whether the packaging material presented in domestic FOGO bins is compostable. It will be considered a contaminant and removed from the organic mass at the processing facility. It's done to minimise the risk of affecting the quality of the final compost. 

If you have a home composite system, we suggest putting compostable packing in your garden compost. To speed up the breaking down of the compostable packaging, you can cut it into smaller pieces.

At the moment, only landlords, property managers, real estate managers and/or body corporates can order additional bins.

Please reach out to your property manager/real estate agent/landlord to request a FOGO bin. We suggest attaching the following document to this request:

• An exclusive leasing and managing authority form to be filled out by estate agents and attached when requesting a new bin service from Council.
• Kerbside bin provision authority form ( PDF 161.07KB) when requesting a new garbage or FOGO Service.

Yes, you can opt-out if don’t want it by returning unwanted items to a customer service centre.

Food scraps won’t take up much space in your bin. If you need to make space, we recommend cutting your garden prunings into smaller pieces. Plus by doing so, you will reduce space in your landfill bin.

Additional bins can be organised at a cost via our website or by calling Customer Service on (03) 9262 6333.

No, unfortunately at this time you are unable to use Council’s FOGO service. 

We encourage users of private waste services to consider purchasing a composting system suitable for their property (there are many options available for apartments or small homes) or speaking to your private waste provider about options for disposing of your food waste.

See our incentives on home composting.

We offer a smaller 140 litre FOGO bin and encourage you to try to find ways of fitting the bin at your home. You may find that you can reduce the size of your garbage bin when using the FOGO bin. If you can’t, consider sharing with a neighbour.

Composting organic waste is expensive and requires an extensive process to be suitable for gardens and farms. The compost and mulch produced is sold at a number of suppliers including Bunnings and nurseries.

No waste is good waste. It costs Council to collect and process organic waste. Without an annual charge for the FOGO bin, Council wouldn’t be able to deliver this service to the Whitehorse community.

Council is currently rolling it out to existing users of the FOGO bin to ensure residents are familiar with the service and how to use it. It is important to ensure only the correct items are placed in the bin. There may be a change in the future, but we will consult the community prior.

Processing costs are the same regardless of the type of organic waste you place in your FOGO bin. Therefore, it isn’t possible to provide variant charges based on the type of waste.

Great, keep going! Use the FOGO bins as an addition to your home compost system for items that are hard to compost at home such as bones, meat and citrus. Visit our compost page for information on incentive programs.

It is important to only place compostable liners that are lime-green in colour with the Australian industry standard 4736 and seedling logo (see below). These liners are made of corn starch (or similar). This will ensure the liner can break down at the composting facility. Plastic liners won’t break down and should NEVER be used for food waste recycling.

Council provides each household that has a food and garden organics bin with two rolls of compostable liners per year (additional to those delivered) free of charge. It is enough liners to last the year when frequently emptying your caddy.

Our caddies are made right here in Melbourne from up to 100 per cent post-consumer recycled content.

The manufacturing process uses items predominantly from council recycling bins across Melbourne, such as plastic bottles and food packaging, which are sorted and moulded into the kitchen caddy components.