FOGO by 2030 - Highlights from the Waste 2022 Conference

On Day 1 of the Waste 2022 Conference in Coffs Harbour, Boyd Russell participated in the ‘AORA Workshop: FOGO by 2030’ as a Q&A panel member. The pre-conference session focused on the introduction of mandatory food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection services in New South Wales (NSW) by 2030. Introduced via a staggered two-step policy implementation process, the NSW Government is introducing the mandatory separate collection of FOGO by way of:

• large producers: food waste from targeted businesses and other entities that generate the highest volumes of food waste, including large supermarkets and hospitality businesses by 2025

• households: FOGO from all NSW households by 2030.

As illustrated in the figure below, the collection of FOGO across NSW is presently constrained to a limited number of Local Government Areas; presenting significant opportunities over the next decade for new and existing market participants to develop and operate the infrastructure that will be required to sort and process the organic feedstock volumes.

Source: NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

The mandating of collection services across the State is a critical step in achieving the larger objectives of halving the amount of organic waste sent to landfill and achieving an 80% average recovery rate from all waste streams by 2030. Whilst the topic of conversation during the Q&A session was diverse and questions plentiful, a non-exhaustive snapshot of the key takeaways has been captured below for those who were unable to attend the session.

The environmental benefits of diverting organics from landfill are significant: with food waste generating greenhouse gas emissions that are 25 times more harmful than CO2, FOGO is the single biggest contributor to emissions across all waste streams. Diverting organics from landfill provides a significant opportunity for the waste sector to contribute to the State’s objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Education campaigns are central to driving community behaviour change: the implementation of education campaigns are critical to the success of FOGO trials and the rollout of collection services. This was evidenced by the Randwick City Council successfully rolling out an education campaign that accompanied the introduction of the FOGO kerbside waste collection service in March 2021. Council data indicates that the content of red bin waste has reduced by 25%, with a 1.5% contamination rate in the green bin.

The finer details of policy implementation remain a work in progress: the EPA continues to engage with market participants on policy implementation. The divergence in requirements for metropolitan and regional customers and general practicality of implementing collection services for some of the State’s most remote areas was identified as an example that requires further analysis. 

Defining key project drivers is critical to long term success: clearly understanding the service needs and project objectives early in the process (and definitely prior to procurement) is critical to achieving the project objectives. In the context of delivering FOGO processing infrastructure, this will include both landfill diversion outcomes and the economic viability of the facility.

Changing dynamics of the contracting market encourages greater collaboration: the unprecedented wave of public infrastructure projects and constraints in market capacity has resulted in a change in the market dynamics between the procuring entity and contractors. The increased negotiating power of market participants requires procuring entities to adopt a more collaborative approach with equal risk allocation and sharing across the asset lifecycle.

The project contracting model must be fit-for-purpose with appropriate risk allocation: no ‘one size fits all’ approach should be adopted in selecting a preferred contracting model, even within the same organisation. Central to this process is reviewing project-specific characteristics and appropriate risk sharing, with optimal risk allocation seeking to assign project risks to the party that is best placed to manage them and therefore minimise both project cost and risk profile.

Adopting a structured approach to feasibility assessment and procurement is best practice: with Australia broadly recognised as a mature market with a proven track record for delivering economic and social infrastructure, Local Councils shouldn’t be seeking to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and should adopt best practices where appropriate. With dedicated market advisors and government delivery agencies already established in NSW, significant learnings can be incorporated in delivering the significant pipeline of recycling and resource recovery infrastructure.

Considering your approach to reaching the objectives outlined in the NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 or developing a fit-for-purpose project procurement strategy? Contact the Sphere team and speak with one of our experts today.