The Composting Hub

Hey there wanderer, were glad you found our community composting hub. So what’s this all about? We collect your food waste and turn it into compost which then feeds our community garden! Sound like a good deal? 

Feel free to leave your kitchen waste in the bin here and we’ll take care of the rest. For more information about this initiative including FAQ’s, read on below. 

Why All The Composting Fuss?

Why bother composting?
We know landfill waste is bad for the planet, and adding our food waste to the mix is super bad. Food buried in landfill decomposes without oxygen and, in the process, releases methane gas. This greenhouse gas traps and absorbs heat which slowly, over time is contributing to the increase in the earth's temperature. 

What About the New Council Food Scrap Bins?
While the new food scrap collection is a good alternative to sending your food scraps to landfill, we have an EVEN BETTER alternative! Instead of sending them 250kms in a truck to the processing plant in Reparoa, you can still use your council collection bin but bring it to us, and we’ll make excellent use of them! You’ll save all those Carbon miles, plus you’ll be helping us by supplying ingredients for our top-notch compost for our gardens. 

How to do food scraps at Grow Forrest Hill?
Bring your food scraps (all of them!) to this roadside collection bin, drop them in and cover with a couple of handfuls of the carbon material provided, and we’ll turn your food waste into black gold for the community garden. If you come along to our Sunday working bees, there's a good chance you’ll be taking some of your food waste home in the form of fresh new community-grown veg! Come along and Grow Good with us!

The Compost Bins and System

We are grateful to Auckland Council and the Compost Collective for funding the Compost Hub at Grow Forrest Hill. The funding we have received has enabled us to purchase a set of topline community compost bins designed and made in NZ by The Carbon Cycle Company. 

Our garden volunteers process the food waste collected in the collection bins at our working bees each week. This involves filling our compost bins with a mix of green (nitrogen) and brown (carbon) material, and regularly turning it over a period of 6-8 weeks. Once that is complete we will have the best compost you can imagine, which goes straight into our gardens, into the food, and into your belly.

The Compost Hub at Grow Forrest Hill has been developed with the support of Auckland Council’s Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund and funding from The Compost Collective.

FAQs

What can you compost?

Many things can be composted. You can really compost almost anything that ever lived.

  • All food waste. (Veggies, fruit, Bread, Pasta etc)

  • Meat and fish are easily composted too. (Some compost makers avoid meats because they are concerned about pests. Our compost bins are rodent proof so this is not an issue.)

  • Compostable packaging and paper towels.

What can you not compost?

It is important to know what cannot be composted so that your rubbish stays separate from your compost and goes into the right place. Things that you should not attempt to compost include:

  • Plastic

  • Wood, timber, and large sticks

  • Metals, rocks, etc.

  • Cardboard. (Technically we can, but this is better put in your home recycling)

Does composting attract pests?

The CarbonCycle Compost bins we have are equipped with pest-proofing on all surfaces, including the base. So in short, nope, no pests.

Does the compost smell bad?

There is no reason why a well-tended compost pile should smell. If it does, then it probably has too little carbon – easily solved… we will add more. It is all about getting the balance right, and that is what we work on each week at our working bees.

How long does it take before you will have usable compost?

This depends on many factors including the size and nature of the mixture, the weather, how often we turn the compost, etc. In our experience, usable compost can be expected in moderate conditions within a few months, if turned at least three times.

How can I get in on some of this compost you are making?

At this stage we have a very hungry garden, so we anticipate using all the compost we produce. If it turns out we have some to spare, we will sell bags as fundraisers for the garden. Watch this space.