ENVIRONMENT
— WASTE MANAGEMENT — FOGO
604. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Minister for Environment:
I ask this
question on behalf of Hon Tjorn Sibma, who is on urgent parliamentary business.
I
refer to the government's waste strategy and its plan to enrol all
local government authorities within the Perth and Peel region in the three-bin
food organics and garden organics system by 2025. Will the minister maintain
the policy position expressed by her predecessor, reported in The
West Australian on 13 February 2019, that the transition to the FOGO system
was ultimately up to individual councils?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer is provided on behalf of the
Minister for Environment.
The
Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 includes municipal
solid waste material recovery targets of 70 per cent in the Perth and
Peel region and 60 per cent in major regional centres by 2030. Source
separation of food organics and garden organics promotes the recovery of
organic materials to be turned into compost. Implementation of FOGO services
are an important strategy to assist local governments in meeting the municipal
solid waste recovery targets. Each local government is responsible for waste
services to its residents and therefore the
implementation of FOGO services. The McGowan government is supporting local
governments to transition to three-bin FOGO services by providing
funding through the $20 million Better Bins Plus: Go FOGO program. The
government also supports the rollout of FOGO services through new guidelines
for the siting, design, construction and operation of composting facilities and
the licensing of new composting operations to receive materials in a way that
protects the environment and human health, including public amenity.