Tell us a bit about yourself and your composting journey:
My name is Laura. I grew up in a household that composted, and one of the primary schools I went to (rural Far North) was big on educating about waste. They taught us about leachate in landfills and why it is so important to not put food scraps in the rubbish. So, the values and that education was there from a young age, and I’m grateful for that. I’ve also been lucky that most flats I’ve lived in as an adult have already had existing compost bins/piles, which made it easy to keep it up.
What do you compost?
Currently we have a worm farm and a compost bin. The worms get most of the scraps, and the compost gets the foods the tiger worms can’t eat. Meat and bread, or anything we want to keep out of the compost because of rats, goes in the kerbside council scrap bin (although we may set up a Bokashi system for those in future).
Tell us about your experience with ShareWaste?
I remember someone recommending I check out the Compost Collective website and ShareWaste, where you could browse a map of your area and find neighbours who wanted to give or take food scraps. I thought it was a brilliant idea!
I used ShareWaste as a donor in 2018 and 2023, when living at flats where I didn’t have the ability to compost. I connected with three hosts over this time – two had traditional composting systems, and one wanted scraps for their chooks.
I loved taking the scraps to the chooks. Although it required a bit more sorting beforehand (to make sure we weren’t including anything that could make the chooks sick), it was nice to see and interact with the hens each drop-off
And as an unexpected bonus, the host would sometimes give me eggs to take home. That felt pretty special, not only because the eggs were free and had come from happy, healthy hens, but also because it was cool holding in my hands something physical and tangible from the process. We’re such visual and tactile creatures, so being able to see and hold (and eat, and even gift) the outcome of our efforts, that’s a nice reward. We feel good, and it makes us want to keep doing it. Homegrown tastes better, too.
What do you like best about ShareWaste?
It’s easy to use and allows people to get in touch with each other and share resources (food scraps are a resource, after all!). It also helps keep food out of landfill, which means less leachate in landfills. Leachate is toxic, and we don’t want it escaping and soaking down through the soil into aquifers or other drinking-water sources. To anyone unsure, I’d say try ShareWaste! It’s free, and you’ll have more room and less smells in your rubbish bin.
Any ShareWaste tips you would give donors?
If you’re donating your food scraps to someone else for compost, ask them if there’s anything they don’t want in there. Also ask whether
or not you can include food packaging labelled “home compostable” – don’t just assume it’s okay to include it. Some gardeners aren’t comfortable with it being in their compost.
About ShareWaste NZ
ShareWaste connects people who wish to recycle their food scraps with their neighbours who are already composting. You can join ShareWaste NZ at www.sharewaste.org.nz or download the app at the App Store or the Google Play Store.
Compost Collective Workshops
If you are about to start your composting journey or want to learn more about a different system, check out our free upcoming workshops on our Compost Collective workshop calendar.
leave a comment