Shoalhaven FOGO

Shoalhaven FOGO is a Source Separated Organic Waste project located in the Shoalhaven local government area, centred around Nowra, roughly 160km south of Sydney on the NSW South Coast. It was registered in March 2026. While the exact project area size is not specified, the project encompasses the municipal waste collection zones operated by the Shoalhaven City Council.

Source Separated Organic Waste projects involve diverting eligible organic materials, such as food and garden waste, away from traditional landfill sites. Standard methodology requirements dictate that the waste must be separated at the point of generation from a single stream and transferred to an eligible treatment facility, utilizing methods such as open windrow composting, enclosed composting, or anaerobic digestion.

The Shoalhaven region is highly regarded for its coastal tourism, state forests, and agricultural lands featuring grazing and dairy farming operations. The area is classified as having moderate to high coastal rainfall, and its soils are generally a mix of coastal sands, podzolic soils, and rich alluvial deposits along the river floodplains.

This project was established as a new waste diversion activity to proactively align with the NSW Government's state-wide mandate requiring all households to be equipped with Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection by 2030, and businesses by 2026. Rather than rotting and emitting methane in a landfill, the collected organics from the Shoalhaven area are processed locally. Materials are often sent to commercial processing centres, such as SOILCO's Wogamia organics facility, where enclosed in-vessel composting transforms the waste into valuable, nutrient-rich soil products used to improve agricultural drought resilience and soil health.