Composting
Churches love being hospitable through the sharing of food - we have morning tea, church lunches, picnics, potlucks. We love getting together and invited others to gather around food. Just as we have a lot of health and safety policies around food hygiene and food safety, we also need to consider what are our policies around food waste, food purchasing and food packaging. In this section we look at COMPOSTING as a great way to deal with our food scraps and also green waste.
If you are totally new to composting, you might want to start off with some general basics about composting. Here are some useful websites to learn more about composting:
Four basic steps to start composting
Decide how you will compost - read up about the different ways you can compost, then choose a method that best suits your church.
Decide how you will collect your food scraps - for example, it could be just a simple compost bucket in the church kitchen, under the sink, or beside the bin.
Every once in a while, depending on your composting method, you may need to stir the compost around to aerate it. Turning your compost encourages healthy breakdown of materials and avoids odour.
Finally, use your compost / worm juice and share them around.
Some recommendations
Bishop Ross Bay from the Anglican Diocese of Auckland tells us why he loves the compost tumbler system.
The Hungry Bin is quite a popular worm farm, liked for its design and convenience. It can be moved easily and is simple to harvest the worm castings and juice, and it also keeps rats out.
We’ve also heard good things about the compost tumbler. There is no need for a pitchfork to turn the compost, instead just turn the compost by spinning or cranking the handle depending on the compost tumbler type. Turning the compost allows more oxygen to reach the compost and speeds up the decomposition process!
But you can also opt for a DIY solution for compost bins and worm farms.
This video from Para Kore shows you another DIY solution for a compost bin system using pallets.
Apart from the obvious food scraps, here are some other items you might find in churches that could be added to your compost:
Coffee grounds, coffee filter, tea bags (make sure they are plastic free)
Paper muffin / cupcake liners
Bamboo skewers
Shredded paper from your church office
Leftover paper cuttings from children’s activities
Post-it notes
Pencil shavings
Toilet rolls
Used tissues, serviettes, paper towels
Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces
Cellophane items like bags (make sure it’s cellophane and not plastic)
Dust from your vacuum cleaner
Flowers from floral arrangements
Used matches
Weeds (without seeds)
Grass clippings
Autumn leaves
How to keep your compost rodent free
Predator Free NZ has a Q&A with a group of tutors from the Compost Collective to get some advice on how to keep your compost bin thriving and rodent-free.
What to do with your compost and worm juice?
If you have plants in your church whether in pots or in the ground - they could all do with some compost and/or worm juice to give them a fertilising boost.
You could donate compost and worm juice to a school garden or a community garden.
You could make them available for free to the community.
What if you don’t have space to have a compost bin at your church?
Ask your church members if they’d be willing to take home the food scraps bin to add to their own compost - if you have many church members with compost bins, perhaps have a roster of who will take home the food scraps bin.
Does anyone in your church have pigs or chicken?
If not, try joining ShareWaste NZ where they connect people who wish to recycle their kitchen scraps with their neighbours who are already composting, worm-farming or keep chickens. A great way to connect for churches to connect with people in the neighbourhood!
Or look for compost collection service in your area. Here are some example of compost collection services in main cities:
Auckland: OMG
Raglan: Xtreme Zero Waste
Wellington: Kaicycle, Envirowaste’s Kai to Compost
Nelson: Community Compost
Christchurch: Cultivate Christchurch
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