Newcastle and Port Stephens advance joint tender for new FOGO service

newy.com.au – City of Newcastle and Port Stephens Council have joined forces to advance plans for a new kerbside food and garden organics service aimed at cutting the amount of food waste sent to landfill.

The neighbouring councils issued a joint tender last year for the processing of food and garden organics at a third-party facility as part of plans to roll out separate kerbside FOGO services in mid-2027. The preferred tenderer will be considered by both councils at their respective meetings next week.

City of Newcastle chief executive officer Jeremy Bath said the councils would run their FOGO services independently, but the joint tender would help secure a better outcome for both communities by taking advantage of economies of scale.

“We are committed to delivering waste and recycling services that are responsible, environmentally sustainable, and commercially feasible, now and into the future,” Mr Bath said.

“While both Newcastle and Port Stephens currently accept garden organics as part of their kerbside collections, we are working towards the introduction of a new FOGO service in each local government area mid next year.

“This will allow both councils to meet the requirements of the NSW Government’s Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy well ahead of the statewide mandate for councils to implement a FOGO collection service by 2030.

“Collaborating on this joint tender with Port Stephens Council is a great outcome for both communities, putting aside local government boundaries to reduce duplication, enhance the competitiveness of the bid process and deliver strategic, operational and financial benefits.”

Port Stephens Council general manager Tim Crosdale said the council was excited by the move towards introducing FOGO across the local government area.

“Providing a joint solution to support the introduction of FOGO will help us accelerate our progress toward state targets, reduce costs for our community and deliver a sustainable waste management service for the Port Stephens community,” Mr Crosdale said.

City of Newcastle currently receives about 21,000 tonnes of garden organics each year, while Port Stephens collects about 7,000 tonnes. The material is transferred to Summerhill Waste Management Centre before being transported to an external site for processing into compost.

The two new FOGO services are expected to divert an additional 10,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill each year and reduce methane emissions produced when food breaks down in landfill.

City of Newcastle managing director of waste services David Witherdin said the introduction of FOGO aligned with the council’s long-term waste strategy.

“We’re implementing a range of waste management, recycling and recovery initiatives to cater for the needs of our city’s growing population,” Mr Witherdin said.

“This includes planning for the development of the next landfill cell at Summerhill, which has recently commenced, and working towards the implementation of the new weekly FOGO service, which meets the expectations of our community, who are supportive of measures to divert waste from landfill.”