Apartment living no barrier for FOGO champions

More than 60 residents who live in an apartment building in Glenelg North generate only three landfill bins of rubbish each week, thanks to their recycling effort which includes weekly FOGO bin collections.

The building’s FOGO champions, Ann and Laurie, have encouraged all the residents, who live in 30 apartments over 11 storeys, to do their bit for the environment.

And it’s working.

The ‘bin’ room in the building is as clean as it is organised, thanks to the efforts of Ann and her ‘apprentice’ Laurie.

There’s a container to recycle batteries and light bulbs, a box for soft plastics, a kitchen caddy with spare compostable bags, recycling bins that are lined with cardboard boxes, a box for Op Shop items, electronic waste or other items to give away.

In another part of the waste area, there are recycling bins for wine bottles, cans, corks, plastic bread tags, plastic lids, a box for paper shopping bags, FOGO bins for food scraps and another for gardening waste.

“In our bin room, everything has a place and there’s a place for everything,” said Ann who kick-started the building’s recycling efforts just three years ago.

“The people here are marvellous.

“I asked them to come on board as we need to do the right thing by the earth.

“It’s up to our generation, the older generation, to set the example.”

While Ann says it’s mostly retirees who live in the building, there are also young families with children – and everyone contributes.

She’s put up signs to help newer residents in particular know what items to put in which bins.

“I tell them that if they don’t know what to do, to give me a hoy on the phone and I’ll come down and show them,” Ann said.

The building recently moved to the weekly FOGO model as well, at the insistence of Ann to further reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

“We’ve got the really help this earth, it’s struggling at the moment,” Ann said.

“Mother Nature is fed up with us – if I can do it, then other people can do it too.”

Council is working towards introducing weekly FOGO bin collections to more apartment buildings and multiple unit dwellings in 2024.