New figures reveal both progress and ongoing challenges of the Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) program as Parramatta City Council works to encourage residents to embrace the waste diversion initiative.
A recent Council report shows waste services have grown by approximately 3.2 per cent since the FOGO rollout, increasing from around 96,689 services in November 2024 to 99,791 by May 2026.
The report notes that the increase has been driven largely by new developments and subdivisions across the area.
The report also highlights a growing preference among residents for larger general waste bins.
As of May 2026, around 33 per cent of FOGO-eligible households were using a 140-litre red bin, up from 31 per cent reported in August 2025.
While total waste tonnage has fallen by 484 tonnes since the introduction of FOGO, red bin waste has increased by 1,132 tonnes.
At the same time, FOGO tonnage has dropped by 1,616 tonnes, suggesting many residents are still placing food waste in their general waste bins rather than the designated FOGO service.
Council inspections have also identified ongoing issues with overflowing bins.
Between November 2025 and April 2026, officers inspected 5,139 households using 80-litre red bins and found 729 overflowing bins, representing 14 per cent of properties inspected.
During the same period, Council received 132 reports of overflowing public litter bins, more than double the 60 reports recorded before the introduction of FOGO between November 2023 and April 2024.
More than 12,000 household bin inspections were conducted between November 2025 and April 2026.
Of the 8,194 FOGO bins inspected, 594 were overflowing and 675 were found to be contaminated.
To support the program, Council has proposed allocating approximately $1.93 million in the 2026-27 financial year for ongoing FOGO operations, alongside a further $800,000 for Waste Strategy initiatives designed to improve participation and reduce contamination across the waste system.
Councillor Kellie Darley spoke in chambers about the importance on FOGO.
“Not only are we mandated by the State Government to roll out FOGO, but we also have our own targets about diverging waste from landfill,” she said.
“Now, if anyone’s being paying attention to a lot of the media reports a few months ago now, we are well aware that the landfill sites in Sydney are rapidly filling up and are expected to be full at least by 2030, if not earlier.
“So, if that’s the case then we are going to have to be shipping our waste off at a greater distance and that will significantly increase our costs.”
