If you live in Inverell Shire and want to know whether a third bin, for food scraps and garden clippings, is on its way, the council's own papers currently give two answers. The draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy, on public exhibition until close of business on Monday 26 October, has a strategic initiative headed Deliver a kerbside FOGO service, and its action plan puts most of the work under it in the 2027 to 2031 window, including a FOGO processing operation at the Inverell Waste Management Depot. In June, the same council resolved to write to the NSW Environment Protection Authority seeking an indefinite exemption from the implementation of the Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) in the Inverell Shire. As at its 23 September meeting, the EPA had asked for more evidence and council staff were preparing a formal application.

The state rule both tracks answer to is short. The EPA says Local councils will be required to provide all NSW households who receive a residual (red lid) waste collection service with a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) waste service by 1 July 2030. Inverell has no kerbside organics service today: its 7,192 domestic properties on the kerbside run get a weekly 240-litre red bin and a fortnightly yellow recycling bin, the draft says.

Two tracks, one council

The exemption request was not in the staff recommendation. A report on the Waste 2026 conference went to the 17 June meeting recommending only that it be received and noted; the resolution councillors passed (2026/151) added the request, for five reasons: the capital and the ongoing costs of a FOGO processing model, the limited flow of food and garden waste to the shire's tips, The unnecessary financial impost on ratepayers, particularly those in rural (farming areas), and uncertainty about the viability and benefit of the FOGO concept. The council wrote to the EPA on 30 June.

The EPA's chief executive replied on 14 August that an application would be assessed on its merits. Councils can apply for a custom exemption to the FOGO mandates if no generic exemption applies, and they can demonstrate that compliance with the FOGO mandates would pose an unreasonable burden, the letter says, and it recommends that an application carry evidence on costs, on the burden for ratepayers with maps and household numbers, on throughput, and on the uncertainty about FOGO's benefits for Inverell. A staff report to the 23 September meeting says the documentation is being prepared and a formal application will follow.

How the two tracks ran side by side

Dates as the documents give them. The hollow points are still to come.

  • 28 September 2010The council adopts its last waste strategy, which recommends investigating kerbside organics in the tender for the next collection contract, due in 2012. The new draft lists that recommendation as still outstanding.
  • 17 June 2026Councillors resolve to seek an indefinite exemption from FOGO (2026/151). The draft strategy's first version is dated the same day.
  • 30 June 2026The council writes to the EPA.
  • 9 July 2026Date of the draft strategy's version 3.0, marked "Final Draft".
  • 14 August 2026The EPA replies: the council can apply for a custom exemption, with evidence.
  • 19 August 2026The Waste Management Sunset Committee, in closed session, recommends noting a fallback should the indefinite exemption fail.
  • 23 September 2026Council puts the draft strategy on exhibition (2026/251) and adopts the committee's FOGO recommendations (2026/236).
  • 26 October 2026Submissions on the draft strategy close.
  • 1 July 2030Councils must give households with a red-lid bin a FOGO service by this date.
From the draft strategy (document control table and Table 3-9), the 17 June and 23 September 2026 minutes, the EPA's 14 August 2026 letter, the committee's 19 August 2026 minutes, the exhibition page and the EPA's mandate page (sources 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9).

The fallback matters, because it is what residents may actually get. Adopting the committee's recommendations on 23 September, the council noted that a report identifies a custom exemption, based on the lot size provisions of the Inverell Local Environmental Plan 2012, as the preferred service delivery model should Council's application for an indefinite exemption from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) be unsuccessful. The committee considered that report in closed session on 19 August, on the ground that it held commercial information that could give a competitor of the council an advantage, and the 23 September papers carry the committee's minutes, not the report. From the published papers, residents can read which model is preferred, but not which lots it would cover or what it would cost. The same resolution starts preliminary communication to tell residents about the state mandate and the council's planning, and asks for a FOGO education and communication plan.

What the draft strategy would do

The draft, prepared by consultants and dated 9 July, runs to 72 pages and 32 actions. Seven sit under the FOGO initiative. The first is to Confirm Council position for properties exempt under section 170E of the POEO Act for a FOGO service, and among its key drivers the draft lists possible FOGO Service Exemption thresholds given the LGA’s extensive rural kerbside service delivery network. We found no mention in its text of the June resolution seeking an indefinite exemption.

The seven actions under "Deliver a kerbside FOGO service"

Priority as the action plan sets it: High means 2027 to 2031, Medium 2032 to 2033. The costs are for carrying out each action only.

  • Confirm the council's position on properties exempt under section 170ENo capital or operating cost givenHigh2.1.1
  • Kerbside bin audit for baseline FOGO data$40,000 to $60,000High2.1.2
  • Investigate a new kerbside bin system with FOGO collection$5,000 to $10,000High2.1.3
  • Plan for the changed kerbside service, to lift yield and cut contamination$15,000, plus $15,000 operatingMedium2.1.4
  • Investigate whether more collection trucks are neededNo capital or operating cost givenHigh2.1.5
  • Explore neighbouring councils sending FOGO to the Inverell depot$10,000High2.1.6
  • Deliver a site-based FOGO processing operation at the depotCost to be decided after investigationsHigh2.1.7
Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2027-2036, Appendix A, Key Focus Area 2 (page A-6). The draft's own note says each cost is for delivering the action, not the cost of what follows from it.

The draft also records how long the idea has waited. A 2019 internal report recommended that the council did not need to commit to an organics collection and processing service at that time, finding no strong financial imperative and higher-priority works to finish, and noting that such a service would draw significantly on the waste reserves. The 2010 recommendation to shrink the red bin to 140 litres and turn the existing red bin into the organics bin is still listed as outstanding and tied to FOGO implementation.

What an exemption can and cannot cover

The EPA publishes the exemptions it has already granted, and one goes straight at the council's rural reason. From 1 July 2030 until 1 July 2035, councils do not have to collect FOGO from an exempt rural household, provided the council gives yearly education on managing food and garden waste on site, such as composting. The EPA defines one as a household on a property of 2 hectares or larger, a household outside an ABS urban centre or locality, or one inside a locality where fewer than 100 homes get a council red bin. A farmhouse on 2 hectares or more would fall within it.

All exemptions are time-limited and will be reviewed before their end date.

NSW EPA, Exemptions from the FOGO mandates, read 8 October 2026 (source 10).

For a custom exemption, the route the EPA's letter points Inverell to, the EPA's procedure says an applicant must show the exemption is not covered by an existing one and is time-limited and justified for the specified time period. The factors it weighs for household mandates include remoteness and distance to a processing centre, waste contracts running past 2030, viable alternatives and temporary operational constraints. None of the EPA's pages we read provides for an exemption without an end date.

What a green bin might cost

The council's cost case rests on work summarised in the draft. A 2025 advisory report modelled about 1,200 tonnes of FOGO a year, which it called low volume, and found small-scale composting at the Inverell depot technically feasible but relatively expensive per tonne. Its first recommendation: Do not commit immediately to building a standalone FOGO composting facility based solely on Inverell’s own waste volumes, as unit costs are high and financial benefits are marginal at small scale. It pointed instead to a regional solution, potentially taking material from neighbouring councils. A pad of about 30 by 60 metres would be sufficient for 1,200 tonnes, and processing FOGO may require a variation to the depot's environment protection licence. At the August committee meeting, the council's environmental services director reported contacting neighbouring council areas to the east, and a response indicating the potential of a regional processing partnership, with further work required.

Processing costs modelled in 2025, and what they come to

Processing only, at 1,200 tonnes a year, with capital and operating costs spread over 20 years. Collection, bins and trucks are not included.

  • Covered static pile, similar to Armidale's systemAbout $176,400 a year; about $25 per serviced home (our arithmetic)$147/t
  • Covered aerated static pileAbout $300,000 a year; about $42 per serviced home (our arithmetic)$250/t
  • For scale: the 2026-27 domestic waste charge for a red and yellow bin serviceWeekly red bin, fortnightly yellow bin$451
Per-tonne costs and the 1,200 tonnes from the draft strategy (pages 35 and 36); the $451 charge and the 7,192 serviced domestic properties from pages 46 and 17. The yearly and per-home figures are our arithmetic, explained in the method note.

Those are processing costs, not a bill. They leave out collection, where the draft's action plan would investigate whether more trucks are needed, and the committee's report on service delivery options was considered in confidence.

What else the draft found

The rest of the draft is a frank stocktake of a rural shire's tips and bins, mostly averaged over 2021-22 to 2023-24. Some of it is flattering only at first glance. The council's 63 per cent diversion from landfill counts clean soil kept for use on site; It is clear that soil retained for use on-site is significantly increasing the calculation for diversion from Landfill, the draft says. On the narrower resource recovery measure it is 24 per cent.

The draft's stocktake, in six lines

As the draft states them. Averages are for 2021-22 to 2023-24 unless noted.

  • Diversion from landfillIncludes soil reused on site63%
  • Resource recoveryMaterials that leave the site for processing or sale24%
  • Co-mingled recycling not recovered at the sorting plant"Very high" by industry standards, the draft says, likely including coloured glass34%
  • Red-bin waste per household per weekAgainst about 8 kg for the Rest of State and 12 kg for NSW13.9 kg
  • Tingha landfill capacity before a new cell is neededEstimate in the site assessments, made December 2025~12 mo
  • Long-term financial plan for waste servicesThe draft says the council has noneNone
Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2027-2036, pages 27 to 30, 39 and 46.

The draft also notes that the council's co-mingled recycling contract expires on 1 December 2026, that it still landfills mattresses, and that it has no soft plastics drop-off. Of the red bin, a 2016 regional audit that Inverell did not take part in found that 39 per cent of the residual waste stream, by weight, was food and garden organics.

Our view

Inverell's worry about cost is real, and the 2025 advisory report backs it: 1,200 tonnes a year is a small stream, and a stand-alone plant built for it looks dear. But an indefinite exemption asks the EPA for something its published pages say it does not give. And the council's pointed reason, the impost on rural farming ratepayers, is at least partly met by the EPA's existing rural household exemption, from 2030 to 2035. Unless a custom exemption changes it, what the mandate then reaches in Inverell Shire is red-bin households on lots under 2 hectares, inside a town locality where at least 100 homes get a red bin. The draft strategy plans a service for those households; the June resolution asks to be excused from it.

A ten-year strategy on exhibition should say which of those the council means. Neither the exhibition page nor the council's 29 September media release on the draft mentions FOGO or the exemption request. Anyone with a view on a food and garden bin, for or against, has until 26 October to say so, and the resolution putting the draft on show means that if nobody does, it is adopted as written.

How to have your say, and what to watch

Submissions go to the General Manager by post, by email to the council, or through the online form on the exhibition page, by close of business on Monday 26 October. The council has resolved to receive a further report after the exhibition if submissions need its consideration. Watch for the EPA's decision on the exemption application, which the September report says will come back to council, and for the further FOGO report the council has asked for.

Sources

  1. Inverell Shire Council, Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2027 to 2036, prepared by Talis Consultants, dated 9 July 2026 (72-page PDF, read 8 October 2026): document control (page i), kerbside services and Table 3-1 (pages 16 and 17), key drivers (page 15), contracts (page 23), kerbside tonnages (pages 27 and 28), Table 3-6 and diversion (pages 29 and 30), FOGO generation and the 2016 audit (page 32), the 2019 organics report (page 34), the 2025 organics and cost reports (pages 35 and 36), Table 3-9 (pages 36 to 38), site assessments (page 39), funding (page 46), and the Appendix A action plan (page A-6).
  2. Inverell Shire Council, Public Exhibition: Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2027-2036 (read 8 October 2026): exhibition dates, closing time and how to make a submission.
  3. Inverell Shire Council, media release, Draft waste and resource recovery strategy endorsed for public exhibition, 29 September 2026 (read 8 October 2026).
  4. Inverell Shire Council, Minutes, Ordinary Meeting of Council, 23 September 2026 (meeting portal, Files tab; read 8 October 2026): resolution 2026/236 adopting the Waste Management Sunset Committee's recommendations (pages 3 and 4), resolution 2026/251 on the draft strategy (page 9), and resolution 2026/261 on item 12.9.
  5. Inverell Shire Council, Item 12.9, Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) Collection Service, Ordinary Meeting agenda, 23 September 2026 (read 8 October 2026).
  6. NSW Environment Protection Authority, letter from the Chief Executive Officer to Inverell Shire Council's General Manager, 14 August 2026, Attachment 1 to item 12.9, 23 September 2026 agenda (read 8 October 2026).
  7. Inverell Shire Council, Minutes, Ordinary Meeting of Council, 17 June 2026, with the item 13.6 report on the Waste 2026 conference (meeting portal; read 8 October 2026): resolution 2026/151 (pages 7 and 8).
  8. Inverell Shire Council, Minutes, Waste Management Sunset Committee, 19 August 2026, item 10.1 of the 23 September 2026 agenda (read 8 October 2026): matters arising, items 6.1 and 6.2, and the closed-session referral and item 10.1.
  9. NSW Environment Protection Authority, FOGO mandates and rollout (read 8 October 2026): the household mandate and its 1 July 2030 date.
  10. NSW Environment Protection Authority, Exemptions from the FOGO mandates (read 8 October 2026): generic exemptions, including rural households.
  11. NSW Environment Protection Authority, FOGO mandates custom exemptions (read 8 October 2026): the criteria and the household considerations in Table 1.

How we did this

Inverell Shire Council's website sits behind a bot challenge, so we read the exhibition page, the media release and the draft strategy in a desktop browser on 8 October 2026 and kept copies. The meeting papers come from the council's ReSolve portal, which only works in a browser; we downloaded the item reports, the EPA letter and both sets of minutes and kept copies. The EPA pages were read directly. Quotations were matched word for word against those copies. The draft is a consultants' document the council has put out for comment, not an adopted policy. Our arithmetic: 1,200 tonnes at $147 a tonne is $176,400 a year, and at $250 a tonne $300,000; divided by the 7,192 domestic properties the draft says get a kerbside red bin, that is about $24.53 and $41.71 a home a year, rounded to $25 and $42. That is a rough scale only: the 1,200 tonnes is the 2025 report's modelling figure, which leaves out garden waste dropped off at the tips, the per-tonne costs cover processing alone, and a FOGO service would not necessarily reach every one of those properties. The statement that the EPA's pages do not provide for an exemption without an end date rests on the three EPA pages listed; the EPA decides each application on its merits. We did not contact the council or the EPA for this piece. The “our view” section is opinion based on the documents described.