In Australia, organic waste represents a significant and underutilised resource. By diverting this food and garden waste from landfill and transforming it into high-value products, we can reduce the reliance on fossil fuel-derived and imported materials, conserve landfill space and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
A successful transition to a circular economy and low-emissions future depends on our ability to recover, reform, and reuse waste materials effectively. Organic waste has the potential to be converted into valuable outputs, including sustainable fertilisers and green chemical products.
Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) systems play a critical role in enabling this transition by capturing organic waste at scale. However, their success relies on community adoption and correct use. Contamination within organic waste streams can significantly reduce processing efficiency and limit the production of high-quality end products.
Designing for adoption and accurate waste sorting
A new TRaCE project, in collaboration with the City of Newcastle, is addressing a critical challenge within the recycling ecosystem: how to support both adoption and accurate waste sorting in residential FOGO systems through behaviourally informed design.
The project will combine behavioural science with waste recovery systems to develop evidence-based strategies that support the successful uptake and use of FOGO services. With the City of Newcastle’s residential FOGO rollout scheduled for mid-2027, the research presents a valuable opportunity to inform implementation decisions before the system is introduced.
Key areas of investigation include:
- How point-of-use instructions and behavioural interventions influence decision-making, sorting accuracy, and contamination rates.
- How residents engage with the FOGO system in everyday settings, including kitchen caddy use, kerbside bin placement, shared waste environments, and ongoing participation.
The project is being led by Chief Investigators Associate Professor Alicia Kulczynski and Dr Christine Armstrong at the University of Newcastle. As consumer behaviour researchers, they combine behavioural science, psychology and experimental methods to understand how people make decisions and respond to communication.
Using a combination of qualitative research and controlled behavioural experiments, the project aims to identify barriers to participation, uncover sources of confusion, test alternative instruction designs, and examine real-world disposal behaviours.
Targeted research will also be undertaken with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities and residents living in multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) to identify tailored approaches and implementation considerations for these groups.
Following the rollout, the project will move into a contamination reduction phase. Drawing on bin audit data and contamination monitoring, researchers will aim to identify common disposal behaviours and develop targeted communication strategies to improve sorting accuracy and reduce contamination.
Expected outcomes
The evidence generated through this project will help inform implementation decisions aimed at strengthening community engagement, improving sorting accuracy, and reducing contamination across the FOGO system.
Potential benefits include:
- Increased diversion of organic waste from landfill
- Improved quality and consistency of organic waste streams
- Reduced contamination-related processing and sorting
- Improved operational performance and system efficiency
