Backyard composting group Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) submitted a petition with 1102 signatures to Mount Alexander Shire Council on Friday, asking councillors to vote no to rolling out Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bins in the shire.
The bins are part of the state government’s four-bin initiative, introducing two new bins in all 79 councils – the FOGO bin and a glass recycling bin. More than 30 councils have formed a coalition in opposition to the move.
YIMBY’s petition to the council requests more time to gather data regarding demand for the service in the shire and to explore other initiatives designed specifically for the shire.
At the centre of the debate is not whether organics should be diverted from landfill – all sides agree they should – but whether a statewide, standardised FOGO system is the right solution for Mount Alexander Shire.
YIMBY believes Mount Alexander is fundamentally different because of the number of residents already composting at home, and that YIMBY itself is already operating as a decentralised composting network – one that has the capacity to expand.
They argue that once households are given a green bin, people will stop home composting, neighbourhood systems will disappear, and composting will become industrialised and disconnected from the community.
One of YIMBY’s creators, Lucy Young, told the Express that for them, composting was not just waste management – it was a social and ecological model that they fear could disappear if FOGO becomes dominant.
Ms Young also said that large-scale FOGO processing contamination was difficult to control.
“If you can’t control the inputs…it’s hard to control the outputs,” she said.
“The product coming out of FOGO bins is not something I would want to put in my garden.”
The system itself also seems to be operating slowly. The regulatory framework is still in draft form and has not been signed off on, yet councils have been instructed to prepare for mandatory rollout.
“They’re being told they have to do something, but the documentation telling them what to do… hasn’t been signed off,” Ms Young said.
She also notes that Sustainability Victoria, which had been responsible for compliance enforcement, was now being abolished, and responsibilities were being moved elsewhere.
A major point of frustration for YIMBY members is that, despite being able to ask the state government for an exemption, the council has not done so.
The Express spoke to Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards, who attributes the slow process to the change in the Environment Minister last month.
“Minister Enver Erdogan is now the minister, and we have communicated with him about what the Mount Alexander Shire is thinking in terms of how to support the community with organic waste, but ultimately it’s up to the minister,” she said.
“I’m hoping that we will have some results or some direction from the minister pretty soon.”
The Express queried the government’s decision to absolve Sustainability Victoria, the body responsible for the four-bin rollout.
Ms Edwards said the move was not about losing services, but cutting back on executive roles, and a reduction in cost to the government.
“All of those services have been brought back into the department, and they will continue to address all of those matters, including recycling,” she said.Ms Edwards said she has spoken to both the previous minister and now to Minister Erdogan about the uniqueness of LGAs, including Mount Alexander Shire and the potential to do things differently.
“I’m a big fan of the YIMBY model and, in fact, I have suggested many times expanding it to some of our smaller towns across the shire as well,” she said.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what comes back from the minister.”