Green waste levels below demand

My Noke founder and managing director Michael Quintern says more individuals and businesses are setting up worm farms and, globally, New Zealand is leading the way. Photo / Supplied

The Tauranga City Council is importing garden organics to keep up with demand from orchards for compost at the Resource Recovery Parks - as the amount of local green waste collected drops, new figures show.

Data from the Tauranga City Council shows total kerbside collection and material taken to the parks was 6622 tonnes in 2014/15, down from 6878 tonnes in 2013/14.

Resource recovery and waste manager Rebecca Maiden said the amount of green waste collected had fluctuated over the last few years.

Tauranga was in a unique position as "we have a local composting site that takes locally generated garden organics that improve the quality of soils for our local growers".

However, about 3000 tonnes of garden organics was imported from outside the region to meet demand, she said.

"It is really important that wherever possible, our residents and commercial sector take advantage of the opportunity and keep garden organics out of landfill (rubbish bins), clean-fill and managed fill sites that compact and bury this valuable resource."

Compacting and burying garden organics and food scraps provided no beneficial reuse opportunity and generates methane gas that is 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide, she said.

The compost at the recovery parks was shredded, turned and then processed into a BioGro (organic certified compost) which was sold to local organic kiwifruit and avocado orchards in the Western Bay. The council was reviewing its Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan with the Western Bay of Plenty District Council with public consultation undertaken next year.

Meanwhile, about 1200 people had attended worm-composting workshops with the Tauranga City Council since they kicked off in 2004.

Subsidised by the waste minimisation fund from the Ministry for the Environment every year two sell-out workshops were held, Ms Maiden said.

In September, 80 households attended the workshop with each participant paying $30 and receiving more than $250 worth of materials to get them started.

"The reason it is so popular is that we give participants practical information on how to set up a worm farm and provide them with the materials to start as soon as they get home."

A recent survey of 365 previous workshop participants (sample size of 30 per cent of previous participants) found that 81 per cent were still using their worm farms, she said.

"The workshop covers the waste problem in New Zealand and why we want to keep our food scraps out of landfill and how many worm farms are in place in Tauranga."

However, funding for the programme was up for review next year.

My Noke founder and managing director Michael Quintern said more individuals and businesses were setting up worm farms. The soil scientist said he was passionate about organics going back into farmland and the company devised organic waste management solutions for industry and local councils.

Mr Quintern said New Zealand was leading the world globally and Western Bay of Plenty District Council had made huge progress.

"We are operating a worm farm in Maketu, for example, and Te Puke now because of the good result we are considering doing a worm farm at Wahi Beach and Katikati."

In 2016, it was targeting for 200,000 tonnes of organic waste to go through earth worms and back into the soil, Mr Quintern said.

Residents could also "pimp their garden" with materials from their own garage to get started.

He would be at the Down to Earth Expo on November 28 and 29 at the ASB Arena and encouraged people to give worm farming a go.

Down to Earth - Sustainability & Lifestyle Expo takes place November 28-29 at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui.