Napier City Council helps fund home composting

Laura holds one of the Bokashi composting systems available for home use.

Napier City Council believes more than 50 per cent of rubbish going to Napier's landfill is a waste.

When organic material, compostable green waste and food scraps are mixed with other rubbish, it doesn't degrade and that valuable nutrient is lost forever, says Napier City Council waste minimisation and sustainability officer Jordy Wiggins.

Napier City Council is doing something about it by encouraging Napier residents to rethink what they throw out and subsidising 'on-property' home-composting systems like worm farming and Bokashi bins by 75 per cent.

"We want to keep organic matter out of landfill for a number of reasons. Most importantly, when it degrades, it produces methane. That's a greenhouse gas 23 times more damaging than carbon dioxide," Jordy says.

Composting is a much more valuable and sustainable way of dealing with organic waste and it helps enrich garden soil.

"It also takes up valuable space and is filling our landfill faster, which means we will have to find another place to bury our rubbish much sooner than expected.

"Composting is a virtuous cycle of returning the organic material to feed papatūānuku (the land) rather than damage it."

Residents can get vouchers for the various compost systems by attending an online workshop hosted by Hawke's Bay Environment Centre. The workshop is a beginner's guide to using a compost bin, a worm farm and the Bokashi bucket system to ferment food waste.

"If you've not tried home composting before, now is the time to give it a go. Keep food waste out of your wheelie bin, save yourself some money on a garden waste collection and bring the benefits of compost into your garden."

The workshop will provide enough information to put in place the right system to get started at home. The Environment Centre will provide ongoing support after the workshop.

The first online workshop takes place on Thursday, April 14 at 6.30pm. There will be two workshops per month until June, when they will be reviewed under the Covid-19 red traffic light setting.

For more information about the compost systems and the workshops, as well details on how to register, visit the Napier City Council website Composting systems and workshops Napier City Council.