A business in Queensland’s south-east is operating the first and only Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) recycling service in Queensland.
The Queensland Times reported the Ipswich business, known as NuGrow, takes tonnes of food and garden green waste from across the Ipswich City Council green bin network.
Entrepreneur Roy Wilson told the publication the green waste is combined with other waste streams, including grease traps from restaurants to make compost, soil conditions and potting mixes.
He said the community and environment would benefit by improving water quality in catchments, combating climate change and fast-tracking a circular economy.
A circular economy is defined as an industrial economy that promotes greater resource productivity in aiming to reduce waste and avoid pollution through technological and biological cycles.
The company is focused on taking pressure off landfills and traditional waste management infrastructure that are grappling with population growth.
NuGrow recently created a hydraulically applied compost product used by civil contractors, which aims to reduce erosion and sediment loss while promoting vegetation growth alongside newly-constructed highways.
The business partnered with a third generation cattle farming family, near Rockhamption at the Raglan Station, to conduct a scientific field trial comparing NuGrow compost with traditional farming methods.
Raglan Station sits next to the Fitzroy Delta, a Great Barrier Reef catchment.
“The field trial sought to demonstrate whether above average pasture growing results could be achieved using reduced rates of synthetic fertiliser via substitution with a more economical product, such as organic-based compost,” NuGrow said in its publicity material.
Their testing found soil conditioner pasture was more productive, while also leading to a less harmful run-off into the river system.
Mr Wilson told the Queensland Times the results could have major implications for the health of the Great Barrier Reef, “but further education and uptake by the agricultural industry is required”.
NuGrow has four recycling facilities across Queensland, and plans to develop further sites interstate.