The FOGO Problem Nobody Warned You About
You switched your café to certified compostable packaging. Your staff are sorting waste correctly. You're paying a premium for AS 4736-certified containers. And then your local council rejects the entire bin load — because compostable packaging is not accepted in their FOGO stream.
This is happening to food businesses across Australia right now, and it represents one of the most frustrating gaps in the national sustainability push. The rules are not uniform. They vary by state, by council, and in some cases by which composting facility services that council's contract. What is accepted in the City of Sydney may be rejected in Wollongong. What works in inner Melbourne may be banned in a regional Victorian shire.
This article maps the actual rules — state by state, certification standard by certification standard — so that packaging buyers, hospitality managers, sustainability officers, and council procurement teams can make decisions based on fact rather than assumption.
What FOGO Actually Means (and Why It Matters for Packaging)
FOGO stands for Food Organics and Garden Organics. It is a kerbside collection system that separates food waste and garden waste from general rubbish, diverting organic material to industrial composting facilities rather than landfill. FOGO is distinct from a standard green-lid garden organics bin — it explicitly accepts food scraps.
The Australian Government's National Waste Policy Action Plan set a target for all Australian jurisdictions to implement FOGO collection by 2030. As of 2025, rollout is well underway but uneven. Some metropolitan councils have been running mature FOGO programs for over a decade; others are still in pilot stages.
The reason FOGO matters for compostable packaging buyers is straightforward: if your packaging cannot go into the FOGO bin alongside the food waste it contains, it has to be separated and sent to landfill. That eliminates much of the environmental benefit of switching from plastic in the first place.
The Two Composting Pathways — and Why They Have Different Rules
Australian compostable packaging is certified under one of two standards:
- AS 4736-2006 — Industrial composting. Material must fully disintegrate within 12 weeks and biodegrade to at least 90% within 180 days in a controlled industrial composting environment at temperatures of 55–60°C.
- AS 5810-2010 — Home composting. Material must biodegrade to at least 90% within 12 months at ambient temperatures (between 20–30°C), without the high-heat industrial process.
The critical distinction: most FOGO council programs use industrial composting facilities, not home compost systems. This means AS 4736 (industrial) certification is the relevant standard for council FOGO bin acceptance — though some councils also accept AS 5810 certified products, particularly those running separate home composting incentive programs.
There is a third emerging standard worth noting: AS 4631 (currently under development as a labelling standard) aims to standardise how compostability claims are communicated on packaging, addressing the widespread consumer confusion that causes contamination in FOGO streams. Its finalisation will have direct implications for how councils verify packaging claims.
State-by-State FOGO Rules for Compostable Packaging
The following is a breakdown of how each Australian state and territory handles compostable packaging in FOGO or organic waste streams. Councils within each state may have additional restrictions — always verify with your specific council before communicating disposal instructions to customers or staff.
New South Wales
NSW is the largest FOGO rollout in Australian history. The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) mandated that all councils with kerbside collection must implement FOGO by 2030, with funding streams available through the Waste Less, Recycle More initiative and its successor programs.
However, the NSW EPA's current guidance does not universally permit compostable packaging in FOGO bins. The default position across most NSW councils — including the City of Sydney, Inner West Council, and North Sydney Council — is that only food scraps and garden organics go in FOGO. Compostable packaging, even if AS 4736-certified, is typically directed to general waste unless the council has explicitly opted into accepting certified packaging.
Notable exceptions exist. Some councils participating in the REDcycle replacement programs and third-party commercial composting partnerships — including certain Councils in the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley regions — have trialled accepting certified compostable serviceware. These arrangements are contractual and subject to change.
For commercial food businesses in NSW, the NSW Government's Food Waste Avoidance and Reduction Strategy encourages separation of food and packaging, meaning compostable containers should be emptied of food scraps before disposal unless a specific council program applies.
NSW Plastic Bans Context: NSW has implemented staged single-use plastics bans, with the first phase commencing 1 November 2022 (banning lightweight plastic bags, plastic straws, cutlery, plates, and expanded polystyrene food containers), and further restrictions on items including produce bags from 1 November 2025. These bans accelerate demand for compostable alternatives but do not automatically grant those alternatives FOGO access.
Victoria
Victoria is ahead of most states in both FOGO rollout and compostable packaging policy. The Recycling Victoria framework, underpinned by the Circular Economy (Waste Reduction and Recycling) Act 2021, has driven rapid FOGO expansion. As of 2025, the majority of Melbourne metropolitan councils and many regional councils operate FOGO programs.
Critically, Sustainability Victoria's guidance explicitly lists certified compostable packaging (AS 4736) as acceptable in FOGO bins for councils whose composting facility contracts permit it. This is the most permissive state-level guidance in Australia. Councils including Yarra, Merri-bek (formerly Moreland), Darebin, and Boroondara have publicly confirmed acceptance of AS 4736-certified compostable packaging in their FOGO bins.
The catch: the composting facility must be capable of processing compostable packaging within the required timeframes. Not all Victorian composting contractors have this capability, particularly smaller regional operators. Councils in rural and regional Victoria may still direct compostable packaging to general waste even if state guidance permits it.
Victoria's single-use plastics ban (Stage 1 from 1 February 2023, Stage 2 from 1 February 2024) has made certified compostable alternatives the de facto standard for hospitality businesses, creating strong downstream pressure for consistent FOGO acceptance.
Queensland
Queensland's FOGO rollout has been slower than Victoria and NSW, with the state government funding pilots in selected councils from 2022 onwards. Brisbane City Council, Australia's largest local government area, did not have a universal FOGO service as of early 2025 — a significant gap given the volume of food waste generated by Brisbane's hospitality sector.
For councils that do operate FOGO in Queensland — including Sunshine Coast Council, which runs one of Australia's most mature FOGO programs — certified compostable packaging in small volumes is generally accepted provided it carries AS 4736 certification. Sunshine Coast's composting facility at Nambour is capable of processing certified compostable serviceware.
Queensland's single-use plastics legislation (the Waste Reduction and Recycling (Plastic Items) Amendment Act 2021) banned single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery, plates, and polystyrene food containers from 1 September 2021, with expanded items added from 1 September 2022. This placed Queensland among the earliest adopters of plastic bans, though FOGO infrastructure has lagged behind.
South Australia
South Australia has Australia's longest-running kerbside organics collection history, with the green-lid bin system predating FOGO branding. Most South Australian councils accept certified compostable packaging in their organics bins, supported by the state's well-developed composting infrastructure.
The City of Adelaide and major Adelaide metropolitan councils generally accept AS 4736-certified compostable packaging in the organics bin. South Australia's composting facilities, including the Jeffries facility at Wingfield, have the capacity to process compostable serviceware. This makes SA one of the most reliable states for compostable packaging end-of-life outcomes.
SA's regulatory context includes the Environment Protection (Plastic Products) Regulations 2020, which have been progressively expanded. Notably, SA was the first Australian jurisdiction to ban single-use soy sauce fish-shaped packets and other novelty single-use plastics, reflecting the state's history as a packaging regulation pioneer.
Western Australia
WA is mid-rollout on FOGO, with the state government's FOGO for WA program targeting full metropolitan rollout by 2025 and regional rollout by 2030. The program is significant in scale — the Perth metropolitan area alone represents over 1.5 million households.
The Western Australian guidelines for the FOGO rollout specify that certified compostable bags (AS 4736 or AS 5810) can be used to line FOGO caddies, but the guidance on packaging serviceware is more cautious. Most participating WA councils direct compostable packaging to general waste unless the council has confirmed their composting facility contract allows it.
The City of Fremantle and City of Vincent are among the WA councils with more progressive organics programs that have explored accepting certified compostable packaging. Operators in those areas should contact their council directly for current guidance.
WA introduced bans on single-use plastic items from 1 July 2022 under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Plastic Waste) Regulations 2022.
Australian Capital Territory
The ACT has been a strong sustainability policy leader and was among the first jurisdictions to implement FOGO. ACT's FOGO system, operated through the ACT Government's Resource Management Centre, accepts certified compostable packaging (AS 4736) in the organics bin for residential collections. This is one of the clearest and most consistent positions of any Australian jurisdiction.
For commercial food businesses in Canberra, the ACT's commercial organics collection services also accept certified compostable serviceware, making the ACT an ideal jurisdiction for food businesses wanting genuine end-of-life composting for their packaging.
The ACT banned single-use plastics from 1 July 2021, among the earliest bans in Australia.
Tasmania
Tasmania's organics collection is less developed than mainland states, with FOGO programs concentrated in Hobart City Council and a small number of other councils. The Hobart City Council operates a food organics collection service, but acceptance of compostable packaging varies by composting facility contract.
Tasmania banned single-use plastics from 1 March 2023 under the Environment Management and Pollution Control (Plastic Products) Regulations 2022. The packaging ban has increased demand for compostable alternatives, but composting infrastructure to close the loop remains the limiting factor in many Tasmanian localities.
Northern Territory
The NT has the least developed FOGO infrastructure in Australia. Darwin City Council has investigated organics programs but as of 2025, a formal FOGO service is not universally available. Compostable packaging disposal defaults to general waste in most NT contexts. The NT introduced restrictions on certain single-use plastic items, though the regulatory framework is less comprehensive than southern states.
The Certification Gap: Why AS 4736 Alone Is Not Enough
A common misconception among packaging buyers is that AS 4736 certification guarantees FOGO acceptance. It does not — and understanding why is essential for making informed purchasing decisions.
AS 4736 certification means a product has been independently tested and proven to meet Australian standards for industrial compostability. What it does not determine is whether your council's composting facility has the right infrastructure, the right temperature, the right retention time, or the right contract provisions to actually process that material.
This is why the same packaging that composts perfectly in one council area ends up in landfill twenty kilometres away. The issue is infrastructure fragmentation, not certification failure.
What this means practically:
- Always check your specific council's FOGO acceptance list — not just state guidance.
- When council guidance says
