Composting - Why is it such a big deal?

Composting is important for many reasons!

• Climate action

• Soil resiliency

• Carbon sequestration

• Kai!

The Government recently consulted on "transforming recycling". One of the primary outcomes is getting food waste out of our general household rubbish, as it is super important to divert organic waste from landfills.

Food waste is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen along with some other elements. When food waste ends up in landfills - it is buried. Here, microorganisms begin to break it down during a process known as anaerobic digestion; a kind of digestion that does not require oxygen. As a byproduct of this process, greenhouse gases (methane, carbon dioxide) are produced. If these gases are not captured they are released into the atmosphere. This is bad news!

Composting is the single most effective climate action we can take today, enabling soil creation and growing kai and community.

Ultimately creating carbon sequestration with soil creation is the goal. This means capturing and storing carbon so it does not leach into the atmosphere. For this reason, our communities must make composting a priority. This could mean setting up a patch in your own back garden or contributing to a community garden - perhaps in exchange for some locally grown veggies!

Composting feeds nutrients back into our soil which is something we can all benefit from. Check out the work of one amazing Soilpreneur here as she helps people get the most out of their soil.

Growing nutritious kai for our community has the added bonus of cutting down on emissions via the transportation of foreign produce.

The Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan focuses on getting Aotearoa to zero food waste by 2030. This means that all of our food scraps will be utilised and go on to replenish our soil. The government intends to roll out a new urban kerbside collection scheme for our food waste by 2030. New Zealand’s waste warriors are obviously welcoming this idea and the team at Res.Awesome believe the government are on the right track. The Emissions Reduction Plan also includes more investment in waste infrastructure and a goal to help businesses reduce their food waste.

The average kiwi family wastes over $660 worth of food per year which creates a total of 409,235 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. What better reason to get yourself equipped with all things compost!

For those who are yet to dive into the world of composting, we know that when you come face to face with your food waste you will be truly amazed at how much food goes uneaten. The good news is, once you have a compost bin - your food waste isn’t really waste anymore! (It is still a good idea to be mindful of what you are buying though!)

It is known that we only have a mere 60 food harvests left globally. This is because our soil is simply not healthy enough. We need to create healthy, robust soil asap - so we can grow kai everywhere and anywhere, and it’s as easy as separating your food scraps and composting them with friends!!

Here are some tips to get you started!

• Create your jungle balcony, don’t forget the herbs, container compost system Subpod and the leafy greens to keep you going.

• Start a compost heap yourself to get people interested

• Get your neighbours on board

• Get your apartment dwellers and landlords on board

• If you can't do it onsite look for a local share compost space like a community garden

• Use the Sharewaste app

• Support the Ōtepoti Compost Collective

• Start a worm farm

• Check out Katrina Wolff’s online classes at Blue Borage

• Get a Bokashi Bin

• Get amongst a hugelculture bed

• Begin building raised beds

• Grab a tumbler compost device

• Build pallet bins for in-ground composting and plant straight into it

• Check out online resources like Youtube etc for DIY goodness

• Grow food not lawns - grow your berms Dunedin and show us your wonderful examples of

  bee-friendly berms by tagging us, #ResAwesome and #DunedinNZ on Instagram!

• Most importantly share kai (food) with friends and neighbours, get to know your community and maybe you can even share crops and gather together to harvest, helping build resilience in your community.

xxx