Here’s Your Guide On How To Compost No Matter Where You Live
Attention Brisbane, composting is so in right now.
By Ash Allerton | 17th March 2020For the city slickers, composting at home might seem out of reach, but this Brisbane blogger is here to change that. Health and wellness coach, and founder of My Food Religion blog, Shannon Cooper, is currently petitioning with Brisbane City Council to have all Brisbane homes supplied with compost bins. With the bins to be collected each week, the system would allow residents an easy and convenient way to make positive environmental changes.
How it works
I’ve always been an advocate for recycling and composting, but I can’t say that living in an apartment hasn’t majorly disrupted my composting capabilities. After feeling a good amount of guilt with every scrap I threw into the bin, I’ve since managed to maintain a ‘mini’ compost, which has been a treat for my plants (and even the garden area outside my apartment. You’re welcome, neighbours).
While there are a few different ways of composting to suit different living situations, council-provided compost bins would make it a breeze for everyone! Until then, try looking into the ways you might be able to compost yourself. A little bit of DIY and you will soon be a composting master.
Why you should compost
A quick Google into food waste statistics left me quite shocked. Australian households throw away 3.1 million tonnes of edible food a year (that’s just the edible stuff), and Brisbane alone throws away roughly 80,000 tonnes of food waste each year. To put it in to perspective, we end up tossing out about one of every five bags of groceries we buy. That’s food, resources, and money wasted.
We all know that food waste is largely unintentional. We get busy, unexpected plans might take us away from our original cooking ideas, or maybe Uber Eats just sounds like a better option after a long workday. While we know it’s easy to do, we don’t always think about the actual impact of our food waste going into landfill. To put it simply, waste sent to landfill ends up creating a harmful greenhouse gas; however, compositing that very same waste allows it to decompose properly – without creating those harmful chemicals.
If you’re a plant mum like me, sit back, enjoy the free fertilizer, and watch your plant babies thrive! Or, for those who don’t fancy themselves as a green thumb, you can always donate your compost soil to local farms or community gardens in the city.
So, instead of throwing away your scraps or out-of-date leftovers, try your hand at composting and feel good knowing that you are now part of the positive changes our environment needs!
If you’re feeling inspired, head to this link and sign Shannon Coopers’ petition to introduce compost bins to Brisbane: https://www.epetitions.brisbane.qld.gov.au/petition/view/pid/850
Happy composting!
