Backyard farmers
As more and more people come along there’s less to go around so we have to be smart, generating food from the home is a great place to start and good gardening practices are at the core of that.
Australia currently generates around 50 million tonnes of waste every year. Of this 7.6 million tonnes is food waste. One low cost way to divert food waste from landfills and return its nutrients and carbon back to soil is through composting.
Urban Agriculture has become popular and successful in other parts of the world and the Centre for Organic Research & Education (CORE) is working with the Queensland Government and Greening Australia to advance the idea of Urban Agriculture in Australia.
May 6th to 12th is the 13th International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) held in Australia. CORE, a not-for-profit charity has been championing this international campaign exclusively in Australia for 13 years in an effort to improve soil quality and at the same time reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills.
“We continue to promote sustainable living among local communities. Farming is not restricted to rural areas; we can have smaller but nevertheless productive farms in urban areas and enjoy fresh produce at our doorsteps. We use compost to nurture our soils and eliminate synthetic chemicals to ensure we get high quality, sustainably grown food” says Eric Love, Chairman of the Centre for Organic Research & Education (CORE).
“You don’t need to be a farmer either to grow fresh food. Every backyard at home is also a potential productive urban farm. We can all enjoy healthy, locally grown food, reduce waste and close the loop on food waste by turning it into compost. There is a clear link between high quality food and reducing food waste going to landfill” explains Love.
Major supporters of this year’s campaign include the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and Grampians Central West Waste & Resources Recovery Group (GCWWRRG). La Vergne Lehmann, Executive Officer of GCWWRRG said “Grampians Central West Waste & Resource Recovery Group is committed to educating the community about the important role that organic composting plays in our waste system. Many of our communities are participating in our community compost events and activities to increase their knowledge and understanding of composting throughout May and we look forward to joining them in celebrating International Compost Awareness Week in their community.”
Some ideas for disposing of organic waste:
• Compost it using a compost bin or make your own compost heap!
• Feed it to a worm farm – avoid citrus, spicy food, garlic, onions, meat, dairy and processed foods such as bread, pasta…
• For confined spaces, the Bokashi Bin Bucket might be more suitable or you can also find a community garden near you to give your organic waste to, they usually have a few compost bins and worm farms.