Media statement regarding City of Ballarat FOGO tender

Statement attributed to City of Ballarat CEO, Evan King

The City of Ballarat strongly refutes local media misreporting that a tender for the City of Ballarat's FOGO processing has been awarded to a company that operates a site without Environment Protection Authority Victoria permissions.

The City of Ballarat can confirm that the Balliang site used by Green Care Mulching does have EPA permissions for processing municipal kerbside and food waste.

We have confirmed with EPA that they provided the media outlet with the address of the public register where they could look up the permissions held by any company.

We have also confirmed with EPA that the Balliang site does have the relevant registrations, but they are listed under an alternative company name.

Green Care Mulching was awarded the City of Ballarat's FOGO processing tender with the full knowledge that the FOGO would be received at Buninyong, processed in Moolap (Geelong) and then further processed into compost material at a site in Balliang.

It is anticipated the Balliang site will be operational for FOGO processing in 2026, however there are currently alterations being made to the site to make it a more effective and efficient waste processor.

In the meantime, the FOGO is being processed at the alternative Green Care Mulching site in Geelong that also has EPA permits for receiving and processing FOGO. This performs a vital role in reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

We are looking forward to 2026 when the City of Ballarat will be able to begin providing the community with compost as a result of the FOGO collection.