I Have FOMO for FOGO

I rise to put on the record some thoughts about FOGO. In fact, right now I think I have FOMO for FOGO, because it is clear that Queensland is missing out. FOGO is of course short for Food Organics Garden Organics. This initiative provides a huge opportunity for our state to halve our landfill and reduce our carbon footprint. We need the state government to lead the way and support councils to better process organic waste.

Last week I was at the Future Waste Resources conference on the Gold Coast and I heard about the FOGO take-up rates nationally. Currently there are 88 services across Australia: New South Wales has 43 services, equating to 17 per cent; Victoria has 17 services or 23 per cent, with 61 planned; South Australia has 17 services or 20 per cent; Tasmania is a bit behind with five services, equating to five per cent; and WA has four services or three per cent, but with 28 planned. With this government proclaiming at every opportunity how they are at the forefront of environmental action, how many services does Queensland have? One—just a single one! Again we are lagging behind every other state, just like we mentioned today with signing up to the Recycling Modernisation Fund.

Across Australia there is a lot of work to do with food and organic waste making up around half of our landfill. Through the FOGO initiative, food and organic waste is recycled and turned into fertilisers such as nitrogen and phosphate, instead of being wasted. Those products make it almost cost-neutral and that is with the average FOGO contamination rate being at just 2 per cent, compared to a contamination rate five times higher for general recycling. By composting our food scraps, we can reduce our methane emissions which is really important because, as a greenhouse gas, it is over 30 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

The National Food Waste Strategy, of which Queensland has indicated support, aims to halve food waste by 2030. At present, out of the 5.09 million tonnes of food waste generated, 3.76 million tonnes goes to landfill. That is 73.9 per cent of food waste still going to landfill. Our state has so much potential for FOGO initiatives, but we are lagging behind.

Of course, waste services are managed at the local government level, but we need to improve our waste disposal and recovery rates. We need the state government to step up and provide leadership. The New South Wales government has, through the New South Wales Environmental Trust, with almost $28 million going to councils to fund and support new or enhanced household kerbside collection services for garden, food or combined food and organic waste. Similarly, the Western Australian government has a $20 million program. We need state-led programs like this throughout Queensland, and I urge the government to do more for FOGO collection services.