Harvey ahead of the organics game

Waste education staff at the Bunbury Harvey Regional Council have welcomed the State Government’s decision to move all Perth and Peel households to the three-bin system by 2025.

Premier Mark McGowan and Environment Minister Stephen Dawson made the announcement last week as part of the State Government’s Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy.

Under the plan, households will be given a Food Organics Garden Organics bin in a bid to divert 75 per cent of waste from landfill.

However, Harvey Shire Council is ahead of the game after voting to introduce the FOGO bins.

In July, the shire will join Bunbury, Capel, Collie and Donnybrook-Balingup shires to move to the FOGO bin system.

Waste education officer Taryn Davis said the plan would reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

“We’re really proud of Harvey joining other local councils in moving to a more sustainable waste management strategy,” Ms Davis said.

“The councils who have already embraced the three-bin system are all meeting the previous targets set by the WA Waste Authority, which is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 50 per cent.”

Ms Davis said these councils were tracking well to meet the authority’s new target of 70 per cent by 2025.

“That’s basically about 30 per cent extra organic waste that could be diverted out of landfill,” she said.

In the lead up to the change in July, the council will deliver a 240-litre organics bin, calendar, information booklet, small kitchen caddy and several rolls of compostable bags to help with the transition.

The new FOGO bins will be collected weekly.

Recycle bins and general rubbish bins will be collected fortnightly on an alternate basis.

“The organics bin service will prevent a significant amount of waste going to landfill and improve the sustainability of waste management operations in the shire,” shire chief executive Annie Riordan said.