It’s not quite online dating, but council is hoping to match food scraps with compost bins across the Mountains, with the launch of the compost hub program today (Wednesday September 12).
The compost hub links households that are not composting with households that do, via an interactive online platform. It follows a successful trial last year when nine hubs were formed with 28 contributing households. Over the nine week trial more than 1,000kgs of food scraps were diverted from landfill.
One of the participants in the trial was Andrew Strong of Springwood. With three neighbours “from next door and across the road” he filled up a 40 litre container of food scraps weekly. He was given two compost bins and an aerator hook to help him rotate the waste, as a gift from council.
“It’s relatively easy to do, you just rotate it [the compost bin] and you get free food scraps.
“There’s horrible global warming and acid rain and you and I can’t do anything about that, but this is something, something small you can do for the planet with your neighbours.”
Mr Strong also found the community building aspect of the trial rewarding.
“The compost hub program generated a small sense of community, Simone lives opposite me and one house up, but before the composting initiative I did not even know her name,” he said. “If the power of a community can be harnessed and directed towards this [composting] goal, a real change can be made.”
Results from council’s 2016 Waste Audit found that more than 26 per cent of waste collected from household garbage bins was food waste which could have been avoided or composted.
Household food waste, combined with food waste from businesses, means that hundreds of tonnes of food waste is going into landfill each week.
After registering, participants pin their location on a map as a compost champion or a compost contributor which then enables them to find each other. Contributors simply drop off their food scraps to a compost champion nearby.
Once a hub is set up, council will provide compost bins to compost champions and kitchen caddies to compost contributors.
Mayor Mark Greenhill said it was an “innovative way for residents who are keen to compost but find it difficult to manage their own compost bin, to get involved and reduce food waste to landfill.”
Participants will also have the option to record how much food waste they are collecting to help calculate how their actions are positively impacting the amount of waste to landfill.
To find your composting match, visit https://www.bluemountainshaveyoursay.com.au/composthub or call the council.
