Inner West Council has taken delivery of the first truckload of compost created by the Inner West FOGO Food Recycling Program to be returned for use in the Inner West.
The compost will be used on new plantings at Richard Murden Reserve in Haberfield.
The high-quality compost was delivered to the Inner West by TopSoil Organics, the Forbes based recycling business, that has been processing food waste from the Inner West and distributing it for use by farmers throughout Western NSW.
To date, Inner West residents have diverted nearly 7,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill since the program began in October 2023. This has prevented approximately 13,000 tonnes of CO² from our atmosphere.
The amount of food and organic material collected each month is on average 17 per cent higher than expected.
The organic material received by the recycling service, TopSoil Organics is of high-quality, because of the very low level of contamination in the food waste being recycled by Inner West residents.
Using compost made from Inner West FOGO to nurture new local trees is the perfect example of a circular economy – turning waste into a resource.
Inner West Mayor, Darcy Byrne said, "The huge amounts of food waste that we've diverted from landfill shows how much the people of the Inner West have embraced our food recycling service."
"With today's delivery of a truckload of compost made from Inner West food and garden waste, we are realising the extra benefit of the service - healthier trees, parks, gardens and playing fields with less reliance on artificial fertilisers."
Dan Nicholson, Director, Topsoil Organics said, "I really want to thank the Inner West Council and their residents for the effort they're going to and the low contamination that we're receiving.
"The quality of the compost we're creating is fantastic and that can only happen through you guys. We love working with the council and the people of the Inner West to create this quality compost."
