Analysis of 38 audits in March 2020 (Rawtec 2020) found NSW FOGO services are very efficient at recycling garden organics, capturing 98 percent of the garden waste in kerbside bins. The same audit data shows on average 44 percent of food waste is captured in the FOGO bin, while on average 56 percent remains in the red lid landfill bin. Analysis of five bin by bin audits provides insights at a household level and found between 27 percent to 70 percent of households put no food waste in their FOGO bin at all. These households pull the average diversion efficiency of the council area downwards.

To better understand the awareness, attitudes and behaviours around food waste and FOGO services, an online survey was conducted with over 2,600 households. Using the results of this social research (PDF 2MB) and the bin audit analysis, the EPA worked with council FOGO educators to develop specific behavioural and attitudinal interventions under the banner of Scrap Together. An evaluation of the FOGO Deep Dive project (PDF 2MB) is available.

The key messages of Scrap Together are:

• food scraps are professionally made into compost and used by farmers to improve soil
• FOGO is a comprehensive service that can take all food scraps including fish, meat and dairy
• people across the community are sorting their food scraps and using the FOGO service well and can share tips on how to do it
• every bit of food scrap matters.

A series of resources including videos, radio ads and social media content are available to promote the key messages to households.

Increasing the efficiency of FOGO services through this grant program and increasing the number of FOGO services through the Organics Collections grants will help achieve multiple state and national targets and commitments including:

• net zero emissions from organics landfilled post 2030 (NSW Net Zero Plan)
• halving organics to landfill by 2030 (National Waste Policy Action Plan and NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041)
• increasing resource recovery to 80 percent (National Waste Policy Action Plan and NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041.

The EPA commissioned social research at the end of the Pilot and Round 1 grant projects. Findings from this research have been summarised and provided in Appendix 1 to give applicants an overview of key learnings. Applicants should review the information provided and take it into consideration when planning their projects

Applicants must:

• be a NSW Council which has not received Go FOGO funding. Eligible councils may wish to apply as a group and have a regional project co-ordinated (and grant submitted and administered) by a regional waste group, joint or regional organisation of councils. Councils are not eligible to apply for individual funding as well as part of a joint project.
• have an existing FOGO service that has been in place for at least 12 months before the application close. For group projects all participating councils must meet this requirement.
• process the collected FOGO at a suitably licenced facility.
• use the existing Scrap Together education material. Examples of the existing Scrap Together resources are on the EPA website.
• make sure education/communications are delivered for a minimum of four months. This could be a continuous four months or broken into waves. Noting that planning and reporting activities are as well as the delivery period.
• include in their project as a minimum:
  • a pre and post project survey. The EPA will develop the surveys and provide a link for councils to distribute
  • content delivered via council owned channels e.g., council’s website, social media, truck delivery, council newsletters, information in the rates notice
  • content delivered via non council channels e.g., articles or ads in local newspapers, radio, community newsletters
• if developing new material (including updating existing materials to align with the position statement):
  • use the key messages and Scrap Together design in the development of any new education material
  • be approved by the EPA before finalisation or use
  • be able to be used by other councils once it’s been tested.
• submit the grant application using the EPA’s SmartyGrants Platform by the closing date (31 October 2023).

Applications that do not satisfy all the above conditions will be deemed ineligible and will not be assessed.

Councils that have received funding via another EPA grant program (e.g., Organics Collection Households) are eligible to apply, except for Go FOGO grants. Where the other grant is still active, applicants must show how the Scrap Together funding complements and does not duplicate activities being delivered by the other grant(s).

Go FOGO grantees are not eligible to apply as funding for FOGO related education has been incorporated into the Go FOGO grant. Go FOGO grantees can access the Scrap Together resources by contacting the EPA’s Organics Unit (organics.grants@epa.nsw.gov.au).

The EPA commissioned social research on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of NSW households with FOGO services as part of the pilot project and the Round 1 grants program. A summary of key results is provided in the section Social research top line results.

The EPA has adapted this survey and developed pre- and post-project surveys which will be used by councils as part of the evaluation of their Round 2 grant projects. The EPA will create and build the surveys and provide grantees with a link to manage delivery themselves. The pre-program survey must be completed at least two weeks before the education is live, and the post-program survey must be started within two weeks of the last communication being published. Grantees must commit to distributing these surveys and getting the minimum required number of respondents for the surveys as follows:

• 50 respondents for single council projects for each survey
• 100 survey respondents for joint council projects for each survey.

Applicants are also required to outline how they will monitor the activities delivered throughout their project. The information collected will be provided as part of the final report.

The total funding pool for this round is $400,000.

A maximum of $15,000 is available for each council participating in the project.

Generally, applicants can determine how the budget will be allocated to different activities, provided the items are in line with the what will be funded and what will not be funded section of these guidelines.

The total approved funding amount will be paid when the letter of agreement is signed by both parties.

Co-contribution

Co-contribution is encouraged but not required for this grant. Applicants are required in their grant application and final report to detail any cash and in-kind contributions, such as:

• using existing resources owned by the applicant
• volunteer time
• leveraging communication channels, such as mailbox drops, mayoral columns and rates notices.  

What will be funded

Funding is available to deliver a range of communication and education activities. Examples of activities eligible for funding include, but are not limited to:

• graphic design costs to tailor provided resources to the council and local community
• media placement/buy
• social media boosting
• printing
• new content creation
• staff time to deliver the project where the hours worked are extra and not part of the project officer’s usual duties.

What won’t be funded

Grant funding will not be provided for:

• activities that have already been done before the letter of agreement has been signed
• activities or parts of the project that are or have been funded via another EPA funding program
• projects and activities that are not directly related to increasing the proportion of food waste put into the FOGO bin rather than the red lid bin   
• development of resources that do not use the Scrap Together creative and FOGO Deep Dive research findings
• infrastructure projects such as the buying of major capital items, defined as furniture, vehicles, building improvements and equipment, computer hardware and media equipment
• activities that target non-residential collections (i.e., business organics)
• at home organics recycling such as composting or worm farming
• projects that only focus on updating of existing FOGO communications to align with the position statement  
• projects that only focus on research
• projects that only focus on food waste avoidance.

If you are unsure if an item or activity is eligible for funding, please contact the EPA’s Organics Unit, organics.grants@epa.nsw.gov.au or phone 02 9995 6890. 

As well as eligibility requirements, successful applicants will be required to sign and return a letter of agreement confirming commitment to comply with conditions of the funding, including:

• seek EPA approval of new education material to make sure it aligns with Scrap Together key messages and style.
• tell the EPA Organics Unit of any changes in project expenditure and activities
• submit a final report on outcomes and activities done and expenditure
• hold appropriate insurance and public liability coverage
• attend bi-monthly joint grantee meetings
• distribute pre- and post-program surveys reaching the required number of responses  
• acknowledge the support of the NSW Government on publications relating to the project, in accordance with the letter of agreement
• invite a NSW Government representative to any launch or public event associated with this funding

Failure to meet all of the grant conditions may result in the project being terminated.

Projects can focus on a particular target audience or cover the entire local government area.

Applications must be submitted via SmartyGrants by the closing date (31 October 2023).

Following the assessment and approval process, successful applicants are expected to be notified in late 2023.

Projects should be delivered and completed (including submission of the final report) within 12 months of signing the letter of agreement. This includes resource development, project delivery and reporting.

Applications will undergo an eligibility check before being reviewed by an independent technical review committee using the criteria set out below. The technical review committee will recommend projects to the EPA CEO for funding.

The text in bold indicates the sections in the application form for each criterion. The dot points provide extra information on the types of considerations relevant to each criterion.