Household food organics services provision and landfill volumes and diversion rates: Empirical evidence from New South Wales and Victoria

Council panel datasets over the past two decades are used to explore how the provision of food organics and garden organics (FOGO) services are associated with total disposal volumes, recovery and diversion rates in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC) in Australia. A staggered difference-in-difference approach takes advantage of the fact that various areas implemented FOGO services at differing points in time. Councils with FOGO services in NSW or VIC exhibited significantly higher recovery and diversion rates and lower landfill disposal volumes compared to those without FOGO services. Compared to areas without FOGO services in NSW, councils with FOGO services are associated with a 68% higher recovery rate, 57% higher diversion rate and 33% lower total disposal volumes over the study period. VIC FOGO councils are associated with a 25% higher recovery rate, 23% higher diversion rate, and 13% lower total disposal volumes over the study period.