Castlecorp general manager Mike Davies said there had been concern about the amount of dust generated in Ngapuna from unsealed areas and uncovered stockpiles of soil and waste.
"Rather than seal or grass the land behind our council depot, it made sense to have it landscaped and put to a more practical use that would benefit our community," he said.
"There was quite a lot of surplus material and rubbish accumulating in our back yard, such as excess materials from work sites. So instead of carting it away to the landfill we used that material to form a protective bund and garden surrounds, which were then planted with herbs and vegetables.
"By utilising left-over waste materials we've effectively saved in excess of $20,000 in landfill charges. The only costs incurred have been staff time and landscaping machinery, and about $500 on vegetable plants and trees, which has been recovered through the sale of surplus scrap metal.
"It's been a really satisfying project in terms of recycling and looking after our environment.
"As well as utilising excess materials, we've relocated trees and shrubs that had been removed from the CBD, and our mulch has come from tree branches that we'd had to cut down over the previous months."
Small donations of food were made to the Salvation Army Foodbank pre-Christmas but, last week Castlecorp staff harvested and delivered a further 100kg of new potatoes, silverbeet, cabbage and carrots to the non-profit organisation for distribution to people in need.
"Because it worked so well this summer and our vegetables were of high quality, we're looking at further developing and expanding the gardens we currently have."
Mr Davies said helping care for the community was satisfying. He said lettuce, cauliflower, leeks, kamokamo, strawberries and fruit trees had been planted for the next harvest.
