By Michael Mobbs

The idea of city and town-wide and local composting inspires me, motivates me to experiment, to research, to trial solutions to end food waste.

FOGO – food organics composting run by some local councils across Australia – is an idea being tested now.

One thing which founds the work I do is data – getting it from and for my projects, reading it in research, and seeking to understand it.

This is my warning about FOGO based on data.

There are two fundamental problems.

Look at these two images below.

The first image compares FOGO with local composting, and shows the differences between a circular and a linear economy when seeking to end food waste.

“Net zero”? Happens with simple systems which use less energy, are locally and community-based

The second image shows that the pollution from FOGO transport is significant, not minor.

• FOGO transport creates significant climate pollution

The data’s warning here?

Firstly, once money is spent on setting up FOGO, buying the trucks, contracting FOGO services out, creating an infrastructure system – that is, to create a linear economy, – it’s probably impossible to turn it into a circular economy.

Secondly, FOGO, as the images and data shows, is a system which makes it almost impossible to undo the massive climate pollution caused by the transport of food waste which drives the FOGO idea.

Thirdly, FOGO increases cost of living for citizens; it costs more in trucks, bins, services and costs are increasing in the form of local council rates to pay for the increased costs. Unlike costs for energy, water, fuel, food there is no freedom of choice for citizes who must pay the local council the new, higher rates, and businesses, too, are trapped when FOGO laws mandate they use FOGO and the new services the businesses must use.

There’s more data and analysis in a report I provided Melbourne City Council in a 12 month local composting trial which may be downloaded, here.

May the worms be with us, and not a linear FOGO system.

by

Michael Mobbs