The NSW food organics mandate is phased by how many litres of general waste your business generates each week, not by seats or staff. Here is how to work out your tier and your date.
The NSW food organics mandate applies to your business based on one number: the weekly capacity of your residual (general) waste bins, measured in litres. Not your seating capacity, not your staff count, not your turnover. If your food business runs 3,960 litres or more of general waste capacity a week, the requirement to separate food organics is already in force. It started on 1 July 2026. Smaller tiers follow in 2028 and 2030.
A lot of coverage gets this wrong and talks about seat numbers. The legislation, the Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment (FOGO Recycling) Act 2025, and the EPA NSW rollout guidance set the tiers by bin capacity. This article shows you how to read your own bin setup against the thresholds.
| From | Applies to food businesses with | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 (in force now) | 3,960L or more of general waste a week | roughly six 660L bins, or four 1100L bins |
| 1 July 2028 | 1,980L or more a week | roughly three 660L bins, or two 1100L bins |
| 1 July 2030 | 720L or more a week | more than one 660L bin, or several 240L bins |
"Food business" here means premises preparing or providing food and drink: supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, pubs, takeaways, hotels, caterers, schools and childcare, hospitals and aged care.
Your weekly residual capacity is the litres of general waste bin space collected per week. Through Bin Hire Australia, collections run weekly as standard, so your bin litres are your weekly capacity.
| Your general waste setup | Weekly capacity | Your FOGO date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 x 240L | 240L | below every current tier |
| 1 x 660L | 660L | below every current tier |
| 2 x 660L | 1,320L | 1 July 2030 |
| 1 x 1100L | 1,100L | 1 July 2030 |
| 3 x 660L | 1,980L | 1 July 2028 |
| 2 x 1100L | 2,200L | 1 July 2028 |
| 6 x 660L | 3,960L | in force since 1 July 2026 |
| 4 x 1100L | 4,400L | in force since 1 July 2026 |
Two notes on reading the table honestly. First, if a provider collects a bin more than once a week, each collection counts toward weekly capacity, so a 660L emptied twice weekly contributes 1,320L. Second, the thresholds are about capacity you run, not how full the bins are. Downsizing bins you genuinely do not fill is a legitimate way to reflect your real waste generation.
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Get your exact priceIf you are in an active tier, food waste has to be separated from general waste and collected as food organics. In practice that means an organics bin (or several) alongside your general waste, staff-facing sorting at the kitchen or prep line, and a collection arrangement for the organics stream.
Through Bin Hire Australia, NSW businesses can book organics bins in 120L and 240L sizes with weekly collection, alongside general waste and commingled recycling. You book free, a vetted local provider delivers the bins and runs the collections, and the provider invoices you directly. See organics bin service for hospitality for how the stream works day to day.
For the background on the mandate itself, our piece on the NSW food waste requirement covers who enforces it and why it exists. Schools and childcare centres have their own wrinkles, covered in childcare centre waste compliance in NSW.
Nothing forces you to separate organics yet, and for a single-bin cafe the 2030 tier may never bite. But the direction is one way, and there is a practical case regardless: food waste is the heaviest thing in your general bin, and moving it to a dedicated stream often lets the general bin shrink. If you want to see both options priced for your address, get a quote: exact per-collection pricing in about two minutes, no markup, locked before you book.
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No. The tiers are set by the weekly capacity of your residual (general) waste bins in litres: 3,960L or more from 1 July 2026, 1,980L from 1 July 2028, and 720L from 1 July 2030. Seat counts are not the legal measure.
Not under the current phases. One 660L collected weekly is 660 litres, which sits below even the 720L tier that starts in 2030. If you add bins or collections later, recheck your total weekly capacity.
Premises preparing or providing food and drink: supermarkets, cafes, restaurants, pubs, takeaways, hotels, caterers, schools and childcare, and hospitals and aged care facilities.
The tiers are measured on capacity, the bin litres you have collected each week. If you run more capacity than you actually fill, right-sizing your general waste service changes the number that the mandate measures.
The NSW EPA administers the FOGO mandate under the Protection of the Environment Legislation Amendment (FOGO Recycling) Act 2025. The EPA's rollout guidance is the authoritative source for tier dates and scope.
More resources to help you choose the right bins, schedules, and services.
Adelaide cafes can book a dedicated organics bin alongside general waste, cardboard and recycling. Why food scraps are the expensive part of your bin, and how to size an organics service that pays for itself.
The City of Adelaide asks businesses to keep flattened cardboard out of general waste and runs CBD cardboard collections and laneway hubs. Here is what that guidance means and how a dedicated cardboard bin fits.
Hospitality waste is heavy, wet, and fast. How Adelaide venues size their general bins, why the organics stream is the quiet cost-saver, and what the CBD's laneway precincts mean for bin placement.
View coverage and availability for these cities.
