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Helping MUDs and holiday managers 'get sorted'

Help your visitors to get sorted and choose the right bin with these free educational signs and resources.

Stickers and posters for holiday managers

We love living in the Bega Valley’s beautiful, pristine environment on the Far South Coast of NSW. And tourists from all corners of the world love it too! That is one of the reasons we want to reduce the environmental impact of sending resources to landfill by helping residents and visitors alike to choose the right bin.

How can help visitors to recycle right

Contamination of FOGO and recycling bins is one of the biggest risks to keeping precious resources out of landfill. During peak tourism periods the risk of contamination is much higher. We know that in other areas bins can look different. Helping to make choosing the right bin as easy as possible is the key to getting it right and getting waste sorted.   

Resources

Below is a list of resources you can download and email as part of your booking process or order to include in rooms, compendiums or central bin areas.

 

Simple tips to reduce food waste

  • Plan your weekly menu and take a shopping list (with quantities) to the supermarket
  • Cook with leftovers
  • Store food correctly so it lasts longer
  • Take advantage of your local community garden 


Frequently asked questions


Bega Valley FOGO collections started in October 2018.

FOGO waste goes into the organics (green lid) bin.

Most things that were was once living can go into your FOGO bin. This includes:

  • Garden prunings, grass clippings, weeds, leaves and flowers 
  • Food waste and leftovers, cooked or raw (no plastic or cardboard containers!) 
  • Fruit, vegetables and peel 
  • Meat, cooked or raw (including bones) 
  • Seafood (prawn heads, oyster shells, fish bones) 
  • Dairy (milk, cheese, cream, yoghurt) 
  • Eggs and eggshells 
  • Coffee grinds and tea leaves 
  • Certified Compostable caddy liners that comply with Australian Standard AS 4736-2006 (look for the Seedling logo!)
  • Paper towel or newspaper used to line your FOGO caddy

Note: processed, dried or treated timber, which was once a living thing, cannot be placed in your FOGO bin. However, garden waste with woody parts is FOGO friendly.

You can look up any item in our A-Z of Waste & Recycling (or on the Waste App) to check which bin it goes in. These are the common items that are not allowed in your FOGO bin:

  • Plastic bags, cling wrap, plant pots or trays or any other hard or soft plastic 
  • Glass bottles or jars 
  • All metal including tins and cans 
  • Timber, building rubble such as concrete and bricks 
  • Takeaway coffee cups, teabags and containers (including cardboard and certified compostable) 
  • Food packaging (including cardboard and certified compostable) 
  • Bamboo or timber cutlery 
  • Baking paper (including certified compostable) 
  • Paper towel, serviettes, tissues  
  • Nappies, medical waste or anything unsafe 
  • Vacuum cleaner dust, washing machine or dryer lint 
  • Hair
  • Pet poo, kitty litter or pet poo bags (including certified compostable) 

As FOGO continues to roll-out across NSW, many visitors will already be using FOGO at home. Look at the links for resources on this page. These resources will help keep your guests informed. At peak times we also ramp up key messages on our social media pages to remind people how we GO FOGO in the Bega Valley.

If each property is separately assessed for rating purposes (each unit receives a rates notice) each property will have a kitchen caddy and a green-lid bin if a FOGO bin collection service is offered in the area.

If all properties have the one owner for rating purposes (one rates notice for all properties) you will have one kitchen caddy for each garden organics (green-lid bin) service you are paying for. If you need additional caddies and compostable bags, call customer service on (02) 6499 2222 or drop into your nearest Waste Transfer Station. If you need extra green-lid bins please call the FOGO team on (02) 6499 2222 or visit the bin information page.

Motels and hotels have a weekly green-lid bin collection if the service is offered in your area. Red and yellow-lid bins are collected on alternating fortnights. 

You can upsize and downsize your landfill (red) and recycling (yellow) bins to make room for green bins. The amount of waste is not increasing because of FOGO, it’s just being sorted into different bins to reduce what goes into your landfill (red) bin. To upsize or downsize your bins, visit the bin information page.

Food waste - that can sometimes smell - can be put into compostable caddy bin liners available to purchase through Council or your local supermarket. Kitty litter and animal droppings are not permitted in your green-lid FOGO bin - these must be placed in your red-lid bin or composted at home.

Nappies are not permitted in the FOGO bin - instead they must be disposed of in the red-lid landfill bin. To reduce odours please ask guests to bag smelly nappies. You can help by locating the bin area in the shade and perhaps consider supplying nappy sacks to visitors with young children.


FOGO saves on landfill, saves money and gives us all the opportunity to be smarter with waste!

Stay up-to-date on when FOGO starts by:


Related Media Releases

NSW Government log with link to Waste LessRecycle more.This project was supported by the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, funded from the waste levy.

© Bega Valley Shire Council 2025

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