Go FOGO Grants

Go FOGO Grants is sponsored by NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA). Supports NSW councils to deliver new weekly food-only (FO) or food organics and garden organics (FOGO) services to households without existing services.

Category: Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy Amounts: total pool of $50 million Eligible bodies: NSW Councils Contact: [email protected] Status: Round 6 is open until 4:00pm 2 July 2026 Managed by: NSW Environment Protection Authority Go FOGO grants support NSW councils to deliver new weekly food only (FO) or food organics and garden organics (FOGO) services to their communities.

These may be households that currently have no kerbside organics bin service or households with only a garden organics collection. Two grant rounds are planned for each year from 2022 until 2027.

The objectives of the Go FOGO grants are to: support the effective rollout of weekly FOGO (or FO) services to 500,000 households that have no organics service support the effective rollout of weekly FOGO (or FO) services to 1,500,000 households that have a garden only waste service provide additional support to councils with a significant number of multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) to deliver additional tailored communication to these properties.

All NSW councils are eligible to apply for funding to roll out new weekly FOGO services or FO services to households that do not currently have a service. The service must be active within three years of the grant application approval.

Councils that previously received funding under the Waste Less Recycle More organics collections grants or Go FOGO are eligible to apply for Go FOGO funding to provide a new weekly FOGO or GO service to households not covered by the previous funding.

Councils with more than 10,000 MUDs, or where MUDs account for more than 20% of the housing stock across the local government area, may also apply to receive an additional $50,000 MUD payment, introduced in 2025. Please email [email protected] . Guidelines for applicants The NSW Government requires councils to provide food only or food and garden organics collections to all NSW households by 2030.

It also requires large food waste generating businesses to source separate food waste from 1 July 2026. The initiatives are designed to reduce organics waste in landfill, where it generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and instead create a clean stream of a valuable resource that can be beneficially reused.

FOGO recycling also supports the NSW Government’s Net Zero Plan Stage 1 goal for net zero emissions from organics waste landfilled by 2030. The Go FOGO grants program provides $50 million to support the transition to FO or FOGO services. Households produce the most organic waste sent to landfill in NSW, making them the biggest source of related emissions.

In addition to the Go FOGO grant funding, the EPA has developed the NSW Guide to Best Practice FOGO , a step-by-step guide for NSW councils to introduce FOGO kerbside collection services. There are also a range of support programs in place, including: Scrap Together FOGO education resources technical advice, information and expertise carbon credit information assistance .

Applicants must demonstrate a good understanding of the complex education requirements in introducing food waste recycling. Councils can access and download the Starting Scraps collateral at scraptogether. com.

au . While councils are encouraged to use Starting Scraps, they may choose to use Go FOGO funding to develop their own collateral. If developing their own education materials, it is strongly recommended that councils align them with the staged messaging approach and the underlying research that has informed it.

This ensures consistency, maximises impact, and supports best practice behaviour change education across communities. Submit the grant application using SmartyGrants . Funding supports rollout of new FOGO (or FO) services.

The new weekly FOGO (or FO) collection will start in less than 3 years from the date of the grant approval. The new organics collection service is for a minimum of 7 years. The new FOGO (or FO) service will be weekly.

All services include delivery of a kitchen caddy to the household with information on how to use the new service. The collected food and garden organics must be transported separately and treated off site at a lawful facility to make quality outputs in keeping with Circular Economy Policy principles.

Community education includes 3 stages (pre, during and post rollout) and must be implemented to support high recovery rates and low contamination risk. Provision for yearly education within the new organics collection contract.

Education about what can go in the bin in line with the EPA position statement on what should and shouldn’t be disposed of in FOGO or FO bins Applications that do not satisfy these conditions will be deemed ineligible and will not be funded. Reporting and milestone payments Milestone reporting is to be submitted online via SmartyGrants.

Milestones payments include: Milestone 1: 60% of the grant amount will be paid on signing of the grant agreement. Milestone 2: 30% will be paid when the council provides evidence that the pre-service roll-out education has begun, and new or updated processing and collection contracts comply with the grant eligibility criteria.

Milestone 3: 10% final payment on approval of a final report, provided six months after the service start, including data on the outcomes achieved in the initial months of collection, how the grant funding was used, and confirmation of the final numbers of households with a new service.

The evaluation of the new service through community satisfaction surveys, change in tonnage of organics collected and processed, low contamination rates in the FOGO bin, and levels of organics in the residual bin is encouraged. Successful applicants are expected to maintain regular communication with the EPA throughout the project and participate in quarterly grantee collaboration sessions.

This collaborative approach supports councils by sharing valuable insights, practical advice, and lessons learned from other councils that have already navigated the tendering and implementation processes.

$50 per household in single unit dwellings transitioning from no organics service to a weekly food and garden (FOGO) service $25 per household in multi-unit dwellings transitioning to FOGO or food only (FO) services $10 per household in a single unit dwelling transitioning from garden organics (GO) services to FOGO (or separate GO and FO collections where the GO is a minimum fortnightly and FO minimum weekly collection).

$100,000 for councils with a large number of multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) transitioning to a new service. Available only to councils with more than 10,000 MUDs or where MUDs account for more than 20% of housing stock.

For grant governance purposes, councils are requested to base the number of eligible households per local government area on the on the number of households with residual waste services and without kerbside FOGO or FO + GO, as published in the most recent Local Government Waste and Resource Recovery Data Report , published on the EPA website.

This provides the evidence base for the independent Technical Advisory Committee to determine the recommended funding amount for each successful applicant. Additional funding (in line with the allocations shown above) providing up to 10% of the total funding may be awarded at the final milestone if the service is rolled out to more households than anticipated in the initial application.

This acknowledges that due to the long timeframe between receiving funding and starting the new service, more homes may have come online. The final milestone payment will be reduced (in line with the allocations shown above) if fewer households than initially anticipated receive the service. Additional funding of $100,000 is available to councils with a large number of multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) transitioning to the new service.

This funding is available only to councils with more than 10,000 multi-unit dwellings, or where MUD’s account for more than 20% of housing stock. An additional $50,000 is available to councils that have already received a $50,000 MUD payment under a previous Go FOGO grant.

This funding recognises that additional education may be required to engage residents in these properties and tailored education will be needed to address high resident turnover, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and the varying needs across different MUD types.

Go FOGO funding can be used for project investigation and planning, pilots, tender development, procurement of caddies and bins, delivery of education, audits and surveys related to the new weekly FOGO or FO service. Only full-service rollouts are funded. Projects that only involve pilots are not eligible for funding.

On completion of the project, grantees will be required to report on the percentage of funding spent on: bins, caddies and other infrastructure Councils that receive the additional MUD funding will be required to report separately on how that funding was spent and how the service rollout of education was adapted for MUDs.

Councils are not required to demonstrate a specific co-contribution amount in order to be eligible for the Go FOGO grants. It is recognised councils will invest significant co-contributions in preparing, implementing and managing new organics collection services. Grant funds cannot be used for items purchased or ordered before the Funding Deed has been signed by EPA and the grantee.

In addition to eligibility requirements, successful applicants will be required to sign and return a Funding Agreement confirming commitment to comply with conditions of the funding, including: continue to comply with the eligibility criteria for the length of the grant agreement or pay back the funding reporting as described in the Reporting and milestone payments section of these guidelines hold appropriate insurance and public liability coverage acknowledge the support of the NSW Government on publications relating to the project, in accordance with the Deed of Agreement invite an NSW Government representative to any launch or public event associated with this funding.

A copy of the Funding Agreement template (PDF 812KB) is available. Applications will undergo an eligibility check before being reviewed by an independent Technical Review Committee (TRC) using the criteria set out below. The dot points provide additional information on the types of considerations relevant to each criterion.

The TRC will also assess whether the project should be awarded the additional MUD funding. The EPA Organics Unit is available to help applicants with their application. Please email [email protected] for assistance.

Criteria Expected information Project planning (25%) description of existing organics services, if any research and planning scoped or undertaken clear plan for collection and processing services council support for proposed approach FOGO or FO collection rollout proposal (25%) preferred start date of new weekly FOGO (or FO) service number of single-unit dwellings and multi-unit dwellings that will receive the FOGO (or FO) service through this funding diversion volumes anticipated, in what timeframes Effective communication/ Education to support project goals (25%) demonstrate a clear understanding of the target audiences an ongoing education and communication strategy Well designed monitor and evaluation plan to measure program success (25%) clear aims and objectives multiple methods to monitor and report the progress a clear evaluation plan to measure the success Clear justification for additional MUD funding of up to $100,000 (100%) (Or $50,000 for councils that have received MUD funding previously) number and proportion of MUDs type of MUDs e.g. high rise vs villas and terraces proposed additional communication with MUD residents to increase efficient and effective use of the new FOGO or FO service Round 5 awarded $4.

7 million to six projects. Collectively, these grants will provide a new weekly FOGO or FO service to nearly 118,089 households. Grantee Amount awarded Cabonne Council $191,950 City of Canada Bay $829,690 Griffith City Council $449,600 Inverell Shire Council $350,050 Shoalhaven City Council $2,607,900 Yass Valley Council $288,700 Round 4 recipients Round 4 awarded $5.

3 million to 10 projects. Collectively these grants will provide a new weekly FOGO or FO service to nearly 260,000 households.

Grantee Amount awarded Council of the City of Ryde $1,134,970 City of Parramatta Council $50,000 Dungog Shire Council $195,550 Hornsby Shire Council $837,500 Hunters Hill Council $176,530 Inner West Council $50,000 Lane Cove Council $529,075 Singleton Council $176,135 The Hills Shire Council $1,460,730 Waverley Council $717,290 Round 3 recipients Round 3 awarded $1. 9 million to four projects.

Collectively these grants will provide a new weekly FOGO or FO service to nearly 130,000 households. Grantee Amount awarded Blayney Shire Council $132,775 Blue Mountains City Council $345,875 City of Parramatta Council (MUDs only) $741,900 Sutherland Shire Council $687,620 Round 2 recipients Round 2 awarded $10. 2 million to 4 projects.

Collectively these grants will provide a new weekly FOGO or FO service to nearly 260,000 households. Grantee Amount awarded Blacktown City Council $6,357,300 Fairfield City Council $2,788,450 Liverpool City Council $974,755 Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) on behalf of Wentworth Shire Council $147,900 Round 1 recipients Round 1 awarded $6. 2 million to 10 projects.

Collectively these grants will provide a new weekly FOGO or FO service to nearly 290,000 households.

Grantee Amount awarded Cessnock City Council $243,650 City of Newcastle $817,150 Cumberland City Council $1,834,740 Inner West Council $953,425 Lithgow City Council $439,450 Maitland City Council $329,060 Murrumbidgee Council $130,650 Muswellbrook Shire Council $62,060 Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) (including Berrigan, Edward River, Federation, Greater Hume Shire and Leeton Councils) $930,900 Snowy Monaro Regional Council $467,575 Resources are available to support councils with rolling out organics collection services.

This includes 6 online masterclasses , featuring Australian and international speakers who share their experiences on delivering FOGO. The NSW guide to best-practice FOGO and NSW guide to food-waste recovery in multi-unit dwellings also provides guidance on implementing FOGO.

Councils may be eligible to apply for Australia Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) that can be used as additional income from the implementation of new or enhanced FOGO collection services for households. A factsheet (PDF 327KB) and manual (PDF 1. 26MB) is available to support councils with applying for ACCUs.

The Go FOGO grants build on the funding provided under the Waste Less Recycle More Organics Collections grants Circular Economy Programs