News
19 September, 2023
Most of Moreton Bay to receive a third wheelie bin
A THIRD waste disposal bin, a garden organics (GO) kerbside collection service using wheeled bins with lime green lids, is scheduled to be rolled out in parts of the City of Moreton Bay from December 2024.
There are plans to increase this service to a food and organics (FOGO) service once a processing plant and capacity is secured.
But what will be the cost of this new service and who will receive it? And what about the residents in Moreton Bay who don’t have a recycle (yellow lid) bin or any kerbside waste collection service at all?
Approximately 1,400 households in Moreton Bay do not have access to a kerbside waste collection service.
Council says this is due to inaccessibility because of geographical constraints and isn’t limited to just one location.
All other properties (approximately 178,000) have access to both a general waste and a yellow-lidded recycling bin service.
The December 2024 roll-out of the 240 litre wheelie bins with lime green lids will be to all single unit dwellings between 300 and 2,000m2, except the small percentage of properties that currently don’t have access to any kerbside service.
Council said the owners of these properties can make an online submission to conditionally opt-out from the service if they can demonstrate the use of a gardener, composting on-site or use of another GO collection contractor.
Owners of all other single unit dwellings in Moreton Bay (except properties that currently don’t have access to a kerbside service) who want to opt into the service can apply online to be included.
The lime green lid bin plan is part of keeping up with the State Government’s Queensland Organics Strategy 2022-2032 and the SEQ Waste Management Plan and will require funding from both state and federal governments to support the various stages of the project.
City of Moreton Bay is liaising with the State Government and Council of Mayors (SEQ) to secure funding for education and communications activities, bin colour harmonisation, initial bin supply, kitchen caddies and development of a FOGO processing facility in Moreton Bay’s region.
Some State Government funding has been recently announced for the early stages of the project.
Introducing a FOGO service is a key waste management initiative as the City of Moreton Bay works towards ‘going green as we grow’, as it contributes to significantly reducing green house gas emissions and increasing diversion of valuable materials from landfill. As funding is secured, City of Moreton Bay will deliver this program.
Council estimates by adding a new lime green lidded bin for organic material made up of food and garden waste, the FOGO resource recovery project has the potential to bring Moreton Bay’s recycling rate from 45 per cent to over 60 per cent.
This organic material can be recovered to produce valuable resources instead of being disposed to landfill where it takes up space and produces harmful greenhouse gases. These resources can be used to make compost for farmers and residents and potentially biogas or electricity.
Council already receives and processes approximately 50,000 tonnes of garden waste at existing waste management facilities.
There are plans for a state-wide community engagement and education program to help establish the new kerbside collection service and to incorporate lessons from the trials being conducted in other local government areas (LGAs) across Queensland and 21 per cent of LGAs already providing a FOGO service in other Australian states.
