A new waste collection system that has spelled disaster for thousands of Australians in some suburbs will be slowly rolled out across the country.
Amid outrage from locals, new food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste containers have been introduced by municipalities across the country after years of testing.
While the bins help divert organic materials away from traditional waste bins and landfills, residents are furious as this has also led to general waste bins being collected once a fortnight instead of weekly.
Some residents have reported piles of rubbish not suitable for FOGO bins piling up on the streets around general waste containers.
Locals at Sydney’s Inner West Council have claimed they are being forced to keep dirty nappies in the freezer while they wait for their rubbish to be collected.
Aussies across the country are outraged after their council started collecting general waste bins fortnightly, leaving the bins overflowing with festering rubbish
Some residents have reported piles of rubbish not suitable for FOGO piling up on the streets around general waste bins
The nationwide rollout of FOGO containers will see Canberrans using the new containers by the end of the year, metropolitan residents of South and Western Australia by 2025, while residents of Victoria and New South Wales will have the containers by 2030.
A resident of the town of Bassendean in Perth’s northeast recently started one petitionentitled ‘Stop the Stink’, to call on the municipality to collect general waste bins again on a weekly basis.
In a post on the petition page, the resident noted that they supported the council’s efforts to separate FOGO and general waste, but were having issues with bin collection.
“While we fully support these efforts, it is equally important to have a reliable and efficient general waste disposal system,” the resident wrote.
‘The inadequacy of the current system is leading to overflowing bins, litter and even unwanted pests in our neighbourhoods.’
They called on the council to reissue larger general waste bins and collect them weekly instead of fortnightly.
A spokesperson for the municipality of Bassendean said this Yahoo News that the rollout of the FOGO bins was ’embraced’ during a rollout in August 2020.
They also said that extensive efforts had been made for 18 months to educate locals on how the new system would work before it was introduced.
Meanwhile, residents of Sydney’s Inner West Council have called on the council to implement FOGO bins, leading to drastic action.
Meanwhile, residents of Sydney’s Inner West Council have called on the council to implement FOGO bins, leading to drastic action.
Residents blame the recent introduction of bins for organic food and organic garden produce (FOGO, pictured), which have replaced weekly collections
Instead of leaving the most malodorous items, such as dirty diapers, on the sidewalk for a fortnight, many residents put them in the freezer to slow the deterioration and thus the odor.
One resident took to a locals Facebook group and said they just want ‘the council to collect my smelly bin when they say they will’.
Others said the reduced collections attracted pests and vermin.
‘Ours are sitting and festering nicely. I hope the council will offer a free rubbish cleaning service as we are now dealing with maggots,” one resident wrote.
Another resident said ‘flies love’ the new FOGO bins and sarcastically wrote ‘bring on summer’.
Mayor Darcy Byrne said half of the waste was food waste collected in FOGO bins, theoretically resulting in half the amount of waste from general waste.
The rollout was outlined by the National Waste Policy Framework to help prevent waste, improve resource recovery and help the environment.
Ny Breaking Australia has contacted the City of Bassendean and the Inner West Council.