Back in bins-ness – FOGO start date confirmed
Rotorua Lakes Council and its waste contractor, Smart Environmental, have confirmed the new Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) kerbside collection service will begin on 1 October 2026. Current services will continue as usual until then.
This comes after manufacturing, shipping, and cost issues were resolved, following delays to the original launch caused by global supply problems.
Under the previous contract, bins were to be manufactured in New Zealand and delivered to homes from May, with a service start date of 1 July. However, Council was notified in late April to a global supply issue affecting the manufacturer, including difficulties sourcing some materials from overseas.
Rotorua Lakes Council Waste Services Manager Craig Goodwin says the delay was outside Council’s control, and work quickly began to assess alternative supply options. A solution has now been confirmed, with bins to be sourced from an international supplier with a more secure supply chain.
“Since community consultation in 2022, we’ve worked hard to introduce this beneficial service for our community. It is expected to divert around 6,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill each year - waste that would otherwise generate harmful emissions,” Mr Goodwin says.
The new 80L green bin will accept all food scraps and garden waste, including lawn clippings, leaves and weeds, and will be collected weekly. Rubbish (red bin) will move to fortnightly collection, alternating with recycling (yellow bin).
The new bins will be delivered between August and September, ahead of the service starting on 1 October 2026. The service will cover all households and businesses in urban and primarily residential areas of the district.
“We want to remind the community that landfilling costs continue to increase. Costs at the Rotorua South Resource Recovery Park – the former landfill – increased in April due to global fuel/transportation prices, with another increase expected in July due to higher government levies,” Mr Goodwin says.
“Costs aside, there is also limited national space available for landfilling. Our local landfill was capped and closed and since 2018 we’ve been transporting waste to Tirohia.
“We all need to take responsibility for the waste we create and how it is managed,” he says. “By sending organic waste to Ecogas in Reporoa, it can be turned into electricity, heat, biogas and fertiliser. This returns nutrients to local soils, helps close the food and energy loop, and significantly reduces how much waste goes to landfill.”
Under the new system, people will have more waste capacity to be collected each week. The total weekly capacity will increase from 282.5 litres to 292.5 litres.
Putting food and garden waste into the new FOGO bins will reduce the need for weekly red bin collections. Households will be able to add, for a fee, extra bins if they need more capacity, just as they can now.
Why are rubbish collections moving to fortnightly?
About half of kerbside waste is organic. The change separates this into two bins, so food and garden waste go in the green bin. Most households will have less going into the red bin once the service starts.
For households with higher-than-average waste needs, bigger or additional rubbish bins can be requested (for a fee) from Smart Environmental.
Can I opt out or return my FOGO bin?
Properties within the service zone can’t opt out of the new service. Like water, sewage, and roads, everyone in the area contributes to the cost.
The new service supports the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan and could cut Council’s waste management carbon footprint by up to 80%. You may return the bin if you don’t want to use it, but you’ll still be part of the service if you’re in the zone.
How much is this costing ratepayers?
Residential (80l bins): $27.52 inc GST per year
CBD food premises (140l bins): $55.04 inc GST per year.
What can and can’t go in your FOGO bin?
Food waste accepted:
- Fruit and vegetable scraps, including peelings, cores, stalks and skins
- Bread, pasta and rice
- Dairy products
- Meat bones and scraps, including fat trimmings
- Fish bones and scraps
- Egg shells, nut shells and coconut husks
- Coffee grounds, tea leaves.
Garden waste accepted:
- Lawn clippings
- Small soft branches, twigs (the maximum size for branches and/or logs is 5cm in diameter).
- Leaves
- Weeds
