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How to compost in Melbourne’s
Inner North

Last updated on Suggest an edit

Here’s the gist

  • Services are highly dependent on where exactly in Melbourne’s Inner North you are
  • Residential FOGO pickup service is available in all Merri-bek City Council areas but not yet in Yarra City Council areas
  • Other options such as community gardens and ShareWaste drop-off also exist

Melbourne’s Inner North covers suburbs split across several council areas, with each council offering widely differing composting services.

Merri-bek City Council services suburbs including Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner, and parts of Fitzroy. Suburbs serviced by Yarra City Council include Carlton North, Collingwood, Fitzroy, and Richmond.

You can find your council using the Know Your Council tool.

Merri-bek City Council

Merri-bek City Council has a comprehensive food and garden organics (FOGO) scheme. Resident FOGO bins are picked up weekly and can be filled with both food scraps and garden clippings.

A green kerbside garbage bin.
Merri-bek City Council’s green bin for residential food and garden organics. Picked up weekly.

Put food scraps in the bin loose, not in bags or wrapped in paper towel. See the council's FOGO user guide for specifics on what can and cannot go in the bin.

Businesses can also opt-in to the FOGO service.

Workshops and resources

Merri-bek City Council offers discounted compost bins and worm farms through Compost Community.

Yarra City Council

Yarra City Council has no residential food scrap pick-up service as part of its regular waste collection services. See the drop-off points below.

Workshops and resources

Yarra City Council runs free online composting workshops via My Smart Garden. They also offer discounted compost bins and worm farms through Compost Revolution.

Drop-off points

The Inner North has a high concentration of ShareWaste hosts that accept food scraps for composting.

The following community gardens also accept food waste drop-off: