Story and photos: Russ Grayson
WE ALL KNOW THE VALUE OF TURNING KITCHEN and garden waste into fertiliser by composting, but in Chippendale they’ve taken the idea a little further.
There, on Myrtle Street, residents of this Victorian era thoroughfare of terrace houses are co-operating with the City of Sydney in a trial of community composting.
The technology deployed is a large capacity compost bin marketed as ‘Aerobin’. The device is relatively new on the market and is claimed to have superior composting capacity compared to conventional bins due to the internal design that is said to improve aeration. Aerobins are available from retailers for around $350.
A makeshift carbon materials bay made of palettes was recently added to the community composting assessment site. The vegetation along the street verge includes a small number of citrus and avocado trees as well as culinary herbs.
When Fiona Campbell and I visited the experiment we met with Micheal Mobbs, one of the instigators of the project. Michael explained that there has been, annoyingly, a small incidence of plastics contamination of the organic matter in the bins.
On opening one of the bins, we found a surplus of food wastes. This was too great a volume of nitrogen-rich materials that, if it continued, could turn the compost anearobic. And anaerobic compost is smelly compost. Not good for a community composting trial.
Local resident, Michael Mobbs, shows Randwick City Council sustainability educator, Fiona Campbell, how the community compost system works.
On my next visit we found a makeshift bay made of palette timber that had been constructed as a container for carbon-rich materials for adding to the compost bin. Much of its content appeared to be dry leaves fallen from the street’s trees. Compost needs a balance of both nitrogen and carbon-rich materials to decompose effectively. Lifting the lid and peering into the bin, I found that someone had added some of the carbon-rich materials to the compost. It looked more promising that on our first visit.
Community composting requires a simple and reliable process if it is to be effective. The presence of impurities like plastics should be anticipated, as should the need to inspect the bins and add materials or water as needed.
We will have to await the end and evaluation of the community composting trial to see where it needs to be tweaked if it is to be expanded in its number of locations.
Rating
INNOVATION/DESIGN THINKING: Medium.
SCALABILITY POTENTIAL: Reasonable. Space and community attitude dependent.
REPLICABILITY: High.
How would one go about getting involved in the garden, composting and sustainability projects in Chippendale.