A natural partnership between a local landscaper and community composter is diverting food waste from landfill and seeing it utilised in gardens across the region.
Tim’s Garden owner Tim Morozgalski and Community Compost Nelson founder Ben Bushell have paired up and are currently processing two tonnes of food scraps every week.
Community Compost Nelson was the provider for the organic waste trial run by Nelson City Council in 2021, which saw 20 litre buckets distributed to 130 homes along a set route.
The bins were collected from the kerb once a week, much like recycling bins.
Ben says the trial successfully collected the data needed to paint a picture of the infrastructure needed for the region and he and his team have put together a proposal for council to save waste across Nelson Tasman.
Organic waste takes up space in landfill, but also significantly contributes to the production of greenhouse gases as it decomposes over time.
“The climate crisis first activated me,” Ben says.
“There was the awareness of methane produced in landfill from organic waste. I noted around the world there were community composting groups starting off to help and there wasn’t one in Nelson, so I started one.”
That was four years ago, and he says the community is bigger than ever before.
Ben and his team now process roughly three cubic metres, or two tonnes, of food waste every week which gets fed into bEartha.
bEartha is an in-vessel composting machine designed and built right here in Nelson. Its primary purpose is to make the hot composting process more automated and efficient.
bEartha does this by continuously monitoring the compost temperature with sensors, and automating the turning of the compost with an electric motor and mixer when the highest optimal temperature is reached.
This re-oxygenates and optimises the conditions for the micro-organisms doing the decomposition.
The machine also captures the methane produced by the composting process using a biofilter, reducing both emissions and odours.
“This can process food that home composts can’t,” Ben says. “bEartha takes care of the heat so we can break it down much faster protect it from all the pests and smells it’s very contained and safe.”
After the week-long process, the raw compost then gets handed over to Tim and his team who manage it for the next few months.
“The nice thing is we are closing the loop rather than going into landfill - it’s going back into gardens and giving it a place to go,” Ben says.
Tim says the compost produced varies in size but it’s a living compost so very different to bulk compost that you typically get in yards.
“It’s great for new builds – they’ve typically been scraped away and everything living is gone.
“This is what we use to inoculate that soil and kick start it again. You need much less of it. You wouldn’t fill a raised bed with this, you would just top it up,” Tim says.
“It’s also really good for making soil more drought tolerant and great for root growth – it’s a really good stimulant for plants in the early stages.”
Tim’s Garden sells the living compost in buckets, wheelbarrow or truck loads, which can be pre-ordered on their website.
