Garden and food waste
Introduction |
Create a low-waste garden |
Create your own compost | Worm
farming | Bokashi composting |
Other options
Introduction
Make the most of your garden and kitchen rubbish and Create your own Eden!
We can help - contact us for a copy of our free 'How to' composting guide
or
come along to a free composting course. At the end of
the course you can purchase a compost bin, worm farm or bokashi bucket at a
discounted rate.
The Create your own eden campaign aims to reduce the garden rubbish and food scraps going to landfill by encouraging composting,
having material collected for composting, or taking it to a transfer station.
Nearly half of what we throw away comes from our gardens and kitchens. Research shows that by recycling and composting, as much as three
quarters (that's 7kg) of the contents of the average Auckland wheelie bin is a real waste when it's thrown away and dumped in a landfill.
What's the problem?
Our garden and kitchen rubbish is great for compost, but it's rotten in the landfill. As it breaks down it produces methane, a potent
greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and liquid known as leachate that can pollute our water.
Other disposal methods also cause problems - putting food scraps down in-sink waste disposal units places pressure on the sewer system and
treatment plant, while burning causes air pollution (and is banned by Auckland City Council's bylaw).
Not only does getting rid of this material cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars, it also means we are wasting the valuable nutrients
that organic material contains and that our soil needs.
Surveys tell us that we Aucklanders really value the natural environment and having clean air and water. But there's no magic wand that
makes this happen -it's down to us. We cause the problems, we need to help solve them.
Updated March 2010.
