Waste Services Update: Your Questions Answered

In June 2026, Council requested further work be undertaken to reduce the cost of returning FOGO material to processing. Since that time, officers have: 

• secured additional regional tonnages to improve economies of scale; 

• negotiated lower transportation and contamination disposal costs; 

• managed costs within the City’s existing waste operations, with no impact on rates or waste charges ; and 

• continued advocacy with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) regarding rebate funding. 

After considering the updated information, Council resolved to proceed with the transportation and processing contracts and recommence FOGO processing. 

Under the approved arrangement, FOGO material collected from Bunbury households will be transferred to Cleanaway’s Banksia Road facility where it will be pre-sorted and bulked before being transported to the Regional Resource Recovery Centre in Canning Vale for processing. 

Your bin collection service and schedule remain unchanged – your FOGO bin will continue to be collected as normal. The Council decision relates to where collected FOGO material will be transported and processed. 

Separately, there are some changes to what can be placed in your FOGO bin, in line with updated statewide guidance and the requirements of the processing facility. These are sector-wide requirements rather than City of Bunbury rules. See ‘What’s changing about what I can put in my FOGO bin?’ below for details.

Alongside FOGO’s return, there are changes to what can be accepted in your FOGO bin. These changes come from updated statewide guidance, developed collaboratively by local governments, industry and the State Government, together with the requirements of the processing facility. They are sector-wide requirements rather than City of Bunbury rules, and they exist to ensure the organic material collected can be successfully processed into quality compost. 

What goes in your lime-green FOGO bin: food scraps, garden organics, certifies compostable caddy liners 

What no longer goes in: Paper and cardboard; animal droppings; and food-soiled paper and carboard including coffee cups, takeaway containers and pizza boxes.  

When in doubt, leave it out. One incorrect item can contaminate an entire load, increasing costs and reducing the quality of the finished compost. 

View the full list here: Sorting Your Waste | City of Bunbury

 

When Council first considered this decision, the additional cost of processing FOGO compared with landfill was $695,000 per year. Through regional collaboration and contract negotiations, that gap has been more than halved to $323,648. Importantly, none of these costs have been passed on to ratepayers. The cost has been absorbed within the City’s existing waste services budget, not through increases to your rates or waste charges. 

We’re also continuing to advocate to the State Government for increased rebate funding, which would reduce the cost further.

Landfill is cheaper today, but it carries growing costs tomorrow. 

• Landfill costs are rising, and waste levies already apply in metropolitan areas – continuing FOGO positions the City well for future changes in the waste landscape. 

• Grant funding eligibility for waste reduction depends on demonstrated commitment to resource recovery. 

• Organic material in landfill generates greenhouse gas emissions, rather than returning nutrients to our soils. 

• There’s no saving on collection – your bins are collected on the same schedule regardless. 

Cost modelling also showed that returning to a two-bin system would be more expensive overall, not cheaper. 

Following the closure of the Banksia Road processing facility for FOGO in December 2024, the nearest licensed processing facilities are in the Perth metropolitan area. Under the new arrangement, material is first consolidated locally at Cleanaway’s Banksia Road transfer facility before bulk transport to Canning Vale – which reduces overall transport costs. We agree long-distance transport isn’t ideal, which is exactly why a permanent regional processing facility remains our long-term goal.

Yes. A permanent FOGO processing facility within the South West remains the long-term goal – one that would significantly reduce transport costs and emissions, support local agriculture through quality compost, and deliver circular economy outcomes for our region. The inclusion of the Shire of Augusta Margaret River in this contract demonstrates the value of regional collaboration, and we’ll continue working with neighbouring local governments toward a permanent solution.

Contaminated loads cost more to process and dispose of and reduce the quality of the finished compost. Keeping your FOGO bin clean genuinely matters – it keeps costs down for the whole community and ensures the organic material can be used again. We’ll be providing updated bin stickers, fridge magnets and kitchen caddy stickers to make it easy to get right. 

Following a competitive tender process, Council authorised contracts with: 

• Cleanaway Pty Ltd – FOGO material assembly, aggregation (transfer station services) and bulk transportation 

• RE.CYCLE (Canning Vale) Pty Ltd – FOGO material processing 

We understand the frustration, and it’s a fair question. Your waste service charges cover much more than just bin collection. They fund a range of essential services that keep our city clean and safe every day, including verge collections, street sweeping, public and event bin maintenance, hard and green waste services, waste fleet maintenance, illegal dumping response, litter collection, graffiti removal, and waste education. These services operate regardless of which bin configuration is in place.