CLOSING THE LOOP: COMPOSTING WITH LOCAL RESTAURANTS & CAFE's



A couple of Otepoti Urban Organics members who reside in a flat on George street, have begun a great initiative to encourage restaurants to compost their vegetable scraps.

The project is currently at a very small scale, with just a few restaurants and cafes contributing their scraps so far. But how it basically works is that the kitchen hands keep any compostable scraps (i.e. no cooked leftovers or meat or dairy etc, just veggie scraps), and bring them to the designated composting area which is out the back of these fullaz's flat. Sometimes the guys will pick up the compost if its convenient. One way or another, the scraps from the restaurant or cafe find their way to an active compost heap, where their nutrients will eventually be returned back to local vegetable gardens to grow more food.



Any businesses taking part in this initiative get a certificate to put on their wall to say that they work with local gardeners to return the nutrients from their food scraps to the earth. This shows their customers that they are taking steps toward a more sustainable business.



It has been really cool to see the crew at the George St flat open up their yard for this kind of use, but of course if the project is to expand, more space will be needed.



We have been thinking about two options...and of course theres probably more options and I'd love to hear your ideas on this.



A) more gardeners from around the city 'adopt' certain restaurants as contributors, and the restaurants deliver you heaps of free veggie scraps to your compost heap. This I think is a good option if theres people out there who are keen. It's basically free nutrients for your garden soils. And you never know you might end up swapping a few of your home grown veg with the chef in exchange for a nice meal!



B) put forth a proposal to the DCC to back this initiative, and provide funding and a location to set up a larger scale composting site that people can take compostable stuff to, and where the compost is given away for FREE to local gardeners.



So if you're keen to get involved or have any ideas on this topic, or if you know of any cafe / restaurant owners who may be keen (also grocers/supermarkets with surplus produce), then get in touch! otepoti.urban.organics@gmail.com