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Composting news, information & advice

How Hot Compost Can Cool The Planet

Nine year old Nico successfully persuaded Unilever to remove plastic scoops from its Surf washing powder thereby eliminating 15 tonnes of plastic from the system. He now seeks the help of the Minister of Education to put compost bins in every school so that students can recycle nutrients into the soil, grow healthier vegetables, harvest, cook and share fresh kai, and learn about the importance of compost.

It’s an idea that worth thinking about, particularly as it is becoming increasingly apparent that the world is in a persistent cycle of drought, floods, deforestation, soil erosion, land degradation, heat waves, heat domes, soaring temperatures, disruption of precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, forest fires, crop failures, and alarming food shortages. New Zealand is not exempt from this crisis. The cost of fruit and vegetables, essential for a healthy diet, has increased year on year by 17% for the last three years and shows no sign of abating. Food is becoming unaffordable. It is driving communities into hunger and poverty.

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Growing food resilience – School News NZ

Tim and I had an uplifting experience recently when we visited Stratford Primary School to install a composting system. This school has, over the years, placed a huge emphasis on actively engaging the children with nature and natural cycles.

Composting was one of those activities. The school also has an established kitchen garden, a large orchard, and they keep bees and chickens. Eggs come from the henhouse, not the supermarket, honey comes from the hive and chutney and marmalade are made from the gardens and with leftovers from the Fruit in Schools programme. Now they wanted to get more serious about composting. Why is that not surprising?

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How to Install the Home Composter

So you’ve just received your brand new Home Composter package – now what?

If you are planning to DIY your Home Composter installation, this page is a guide to installing your Home Composter with everything you need to know to make the process as seamless as possible.

Start by watching the video below to see a demonstration by Tim which you can follow along with:

If you want to download or print an installation guide, click here for the PDF version of these instructions. Or keep reading for the written instructions below.

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urban farm composting facility

Wellington becomes chocolate manufacturer’s compostable wrapping testing ground

Chocolate, an old bowling green and compost seem an unlikely combination, but a new partnership between social enterprise For the Better Good and chocolate manufacturer Whittaker’s is creating a new synergy with sustainability at its heart.

Specially-wrapped Peanut Slabs in plant-based compostable packaging went on sale in Wellington and Porirua from Monday as part of an eight-week trial.

Slab eaters are being asked to put their used wrappers into a special collection box based at the retail outlet, which are then taken to For the Better Good’s Edible Earth Urban Micro Farm in Cannon’s Creek [which uses CarbonCycle Composters] for composting.

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Saying goodbye to 2020

It’s hard to believe this long, long year has come to an end. In spite of all the challenges of 2020, we feel we have made real progress in educating people and spreading the word on the importance of local composting across the country. Every day we are one step closer to Richard’s vision.

We’ve been so busy this year we’ve barely had the time to look back and think about everything that’s been done. So we think it’s high time we did a bit of reflecting. So, we’ve decided to look back at the big things that happened this year and share some photos of our best moments. Some of our highlights of 2020 were…

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Comparing small and larger compost box sizes

Introducing: CarbonCycle Home Composters

Since the first CarbonCycle Composter was assembled several years ago, Richard’s vision has remained strong: widespread composting on a local scale is what our soil, our plants, our planet, and what we as people need to survive and thrive. This year, we have released a new small compost box that will extend local composting from larger properties and community gardens to personal properties and home gardens. Introducing: the CarbonCycle Home Composter.

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Why schools need to compost – School News NZ

Making compost usually leads to growing food.

In schools, that means a fun escape from the classroom and a chance to pick up some handy life skills around food, nutrition and abundance.

It also links with the sustainability curriculum, teaching about the interconnectedness of photosynthesis, growth and decomposition. How better to engage with that important topic than in the kitchen garden where the compost heap is cooking away; vegetables and fruit trees thrive; and the soil is spongy and moist.

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Composting at Moanataiari School

CarbonCycle in Schools

 Ever wondered why we don’t compost at school? So did we. Over the last few months, here The CarbonCycle Co we have been busy installing our composters in several New Zealand public schools, from primary to high schools. We have had so much fun working with kids and teaching them about the importance of composting for our soils and our planet. And we hope that our vision of widespread local composting and urban farming is another step closer to reality.

 This article will explain in more detail what we have been doing and why.

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Funding for Kaipara district community waste programmes

Waste reduction and recycling programmes in Kaipara are set to get a boost with Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announcing a $361,447 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) Sustainable Kaipara.

“The new funding will allow Sustainable Kaipara to partner with local schools, kura, community groups and businesses to assess their waste and develop long-term plans to avoid and reduce waste. A second project is to conduct a feasibility study for a hot compost facility in Mangawhai,” said Eugenie Sage.

Sustainable Kaipara’s management team previously worked as volunteers for the Plastic Free Mangawhai community group. They are now using their experience in waste management and community work.

  • Kaipara District compost options assessment and feasibility study and trial” allows Sustainable Kaipara to conduct a feasibility study and pilot trial for a hot compost facility in Mangawhai. Currently there are no commercial compost or green waste facilities in the Mangawhai area.
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CarbonCycle compost to superfoods

Why is local composting important?

In most parts of the world, organic waste still goes straight to methane-producing landfills. Nowadays, some governments and local councils are starting to realise that composting is essential for sustainable communities. However, their solution is usually an industrial-level compost plant or anaerobic digester, where food waste is transported from communities to an external processing plant. While they have good intentions, unfortunately this practice actually creates more problems and is not the ideal way to deal with organic waste. We believe that local composting is always best, and here is why.

Making compost locally is critical to the reform of our food supply. Composting can, should and must be done on a local scale.”

– Richard Wallis (Doctor Compost)
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