FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) Bin

Our standard 3 bin service applies to residential dwellings in urban areas.

• Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected fortnightly)
• Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly on alternating weeks to landfill)
• Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre organics bin (collected weekly)

* Fees are charged annually per service(PDF, 6MB)

Our standard 2 bin service applies to residential dwellings in rural areas.

• Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected weekly)
• Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly)

Commercial premises can request the following bin services by contacting Council's Resource Recovery team on 6686 1287.

Options include:

• Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected weekly)
• Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly)
• Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre organics bin (collected weekly)

Fees are charged annually per service(PDF, 6MB)

Download the Urban Commercial Bin Collection Calendar(PDF, 3MB)

Urban Commercial Bin Collection Days

Monday 

• East Ballina

Tuesday

• Lennox Head

Wednesday

• Ballina - west of Moon Street
• Ballina Industrial areas
• West Ballina
• Wardell

 Thursday

• Alstonville 
• Alstonville Industrial area
• Wollongbar

Friday

• Ballina - east of Moon Street 
• Skennars Head

Any businesses outside these areas, please confirm collection day with Ballina Resource Recovery Centre, ph 6686 1287.

Rural Commercial Bin Collection

• Download the Rural Area 1 Bin Collection Calendar
• Download the Rural Area 2 Bin Collection Calendar

Use a kitchen caddy to collect your food scraps each day. Supply your own or purchase one from Council. Council sells kitchen caddies for $10 at our Customer Service Centre at 40 Cherry Street Ballina and the Resource Recovery Centre at 167 Southern Cross Drive, Ballina. The containers are clearly labelled with what organics items can go in them and are designed to close snugly and wash easily.

Liners aren't needed for your caddies and the best option is no liners - just rinse out your caddy once emptied. However, the NSW EPA has allowed newspaper, paper and Australian certified compostable caddy liners to help people stay in the habit of collecting their food scraps. The following can be used:

• Newspaper or plain paper (but only if used as lining for your caddy).
• Compostable bags that comply with Australian standard AS 4736-2006.

Certified compostable bags are available to purchase at most supermarkets or online, simply look for the logos below. 

No plastic, degradable or bio-degradable bags should be put in your green organics bin.

Download the Ballina Bin Liner Guide(PDF, 1MB)

• Keep your caddy out of direct sunlight if possible
• Wash your caddy each time its emptied (by hand or in the dishwasher)
• Store smelly food waste (like seafood shells and meat scraps) in the freezer until the night before pick up
• Line the bottom of your 240L bin with newspaper to prevent food and garden waste sticking to the bin
• Keep bin in a shady and well ventilated area – especially over summer

Find tips for reducing food waste here.

Everything put in your lime green organics FOGO bin goes to SOILCO - Tweed Heads for composting. At this facility they close the loop, turning organic material into nutrient-rich compost, soil, and fertilizer for local farms, parks, and gardens. This is why the organics bin is a weekly service and why it’s so important to put only food and garden organics inside. Remember, no paper, no plastic, no cardboard.

1. At the facility the material from organics bins is stockpiled into rows on the composting pad where it breaks down into rich compost. This process takes at least three months.
2. The composted material is then graded and screened to remove plastics and other inorganic materials (this is a time-consuming process).
3. The end result is beautiful organic compost, so the least contaminants the better.

Please use the 3-bin system properly and only place organic materials in your lime green organics bin.

Yes, Councils and our commercial compost facilities need to comply with state government legislation and policy - the NSW EPA’s Compost Order and the NSW Position Statement on FOGO. 

Recent testing has found that many fibre-based products claim to be compostable but can contain chemicals known as polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) that cause harm to our environment.  

Keeping those potentially harmful items out of our organics bins means that we can create high-quality commercial compost to support food production and soil health. 

Did you know that last year, the Northern Rivers region recycled more than 42,000 tonnes of food and garden scraps into compost through our kerbside organics bins?

The compost is then used by farmers to grow the food that ends up in our farmers markets, food shops and then on our plates. This food-cycle can keep coming around as long as we use our organics bins properly, and make sure we don't put food and garden waste into our landfill bins. 

Food that ends up in landfill creates methane, which is a greenhouse gas more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. With the impacts of climate change being felt so strongly in our region, every little scrap that goes into our kerbside organics bins instead of the landfill bin is helping our environment. 

Watch the videos below to learn even more about getting our scrap together:

• Watch the Scrap Sorted video
• Watch the Scrap Load Better video
• Watch the Every Scrap Matters video