EMRC FOGO Project

The EMRC FOGO Project is a Source Separated Organic Waste project located at the Red Hill Waste Management Facility, approximately 12 kilometers northeast of Midland and 30 kilometers northeast of the Perth CBD in Western Australia. Registered in August 2021, the project is situated on the Darling Scarp, a region characterized by jarrah-marri forest and rural-industrial land use. The area typically experiences a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers, while the local soil composition is dominated by lateritic gravels and clays common to the scarp.

This project operates under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative, Source Separated Organic Waste) Methodology Determination 2016. The methodology credits the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions achieved by separating organic waste (specifically Food Organics and Garden Organics, or FOGO) at the point of household generation rather than sending it to a general landfill. By diverting this organic matter to a specialized processing facility, the project prevents the anaerobic decay that would otherwise generate significant methane emissions in a landfill environment.

The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC) manages the project on behalf of its member councils, which include the Town of Bassendean and the City of Bayswater. The facility utilizes enclosed composting and anaerobic digestion technologies to treat the diverted waste. A notable aspect of this operation is its contribution to the "circular economy" in Western Australia; the processed waste is converted into nutrient-rich compost and soil improvers used to rehabilitate the region's carbon-deficient soils, while also aiming to generate renewable energy through biogas capture.