Sustainable Kaipara to continue creating compost from Mangawhai food scraps 

Sustainable Kaipara has confirmed that they will continue to run their community compost with their weekly pick-up service for food scraps. This comes after a six month trial provided the testing ground for getting the logistics and pricing right for the service.

In the six months that the community compost has been in operation, the Sustainable Kaipara team have collected over 3706 kg of food scraps from households in Mangawhai.

They have collected over 60 kg of compostable packaging from local events and businesses. Shredded paper from local businesses and paper towels from the kindy have also been diverted from landfill and composted.

Not only does this mean that all this waste is being kept out of landfill where it rots and creates harmful methane emissions, but the waste is being cycled back into the system by creating nutrient rich compost to grow great food.

So far the Mangawhai Community Garden has had two cubic metres of compost added to their garden which helps them grow vegetables for those in need. Compost will also be for sale in the future.

Sustainable Kaipara’s compost manager, Stephanie Gibson, said she was “blown away” by the interest and excitement surrounding the food scraps pick up service.

“People just jumped on board. A lot were relieved to have an option to divert their food waste from landfill and not fill up their blue bags with food scraps.”

The compost service also provides part-time local employment and provides a great spot to run composting workshops to mentor and teach the community to compost at home.

Although the pick-up service is only available in Mangawhai village and Mangawhai Heads, Sustainable Kaipara has plans to expand across the district.

“Our Compost Feasibility Study identified that localised community compost hubs were an efficient and productive way to deal with organic waste and to help create nutrient dense soils in the Kaipara,” says Gibson.

“We think this is the way forward and that no organic waste should ever be sent to landfill. There’s never been a better time to start thinking about diverting waste from landfill, given what’s going on in our backyard with the Dome Valley landfill proposal.”

n Get in touch with Sustainable Kaipara to join the service. The cost is only $4.50 per household per week. Visit sustainablekaipara.org

The numbers tell the story of Sustainable Kaipara’s six month Mangawhai compost trial, and the impact it has had in many areas of the community. INFOGRAPHIC/SUPPLIED