One person’s trash is a composter’s treasure

Gillian Black has composted for as long as she can remember and now, thanks to a new community initiative, is sharing a lifetime of knowledge across the Bellarine and Surf Coast.

Mrs Black joined ShareWaste a couple of months ago, a free web app that connects composters and those wanting to donate green waste.

“I’ve composted all my life. In the UK I’m from a family of composters. It’s not a new thing for me but other people adding their green waste to mine is,” Mrs Black said.

“I started to put a bin out the front through ShareWaste and it’s really taken off. Especially since I decided to start weighing how much waste we’ve saved from landfill; anything that grows, that’s raw will break down, I don’t refuse anything. “They see it’s not just going in someone’s compost, it’s being reused and recycled and staying in Ocean Grove. Some people are dropping off tiny amounts and others are filling the bin; in just three weeks I’ve collected 100kg of scraps.”

Husband-and-wife team Tomas Brambora and Eliska Bramborova launched the ShareWaste app in 2016 to connect people with an interest in composting.

“We help people who have green scraps and would like to compost them (rather than just chuck them into the garbage) find a neighbour with a composting bin, worm farm or chooks willing to accept their waste,” co-founder Eliska said.

“The sustainability and waste aspect is only 50 per cent of what we do. The rest, which is equally important to us, is community work to build more resilient and caring communities.”

Ocean Grove resident Marnie Holden recently saw one of Gillian’s posts on Facebook and arrived to Mrs Black’s house to a guided tour of her composting and worm farm set up.

“I’ve just started composting and thought that’s a good idea (ShareWaste), I live in a more built up area but I thought I’ll have a go at it,” she said.

“We’ve been making a real effort to reduce waste in our house all together and it’s been amazing. Just taking out the soft plastics and not buying as many, as well as taking out the green waste to compost, we hardly fill a bag a week now.”

“It’s amazing to see Gillian’s set up. I would encourage others to come and learn, I’d been watching a lot of YouTube videos about worm farms and compost but there’s a lot of conflicting messages. Knowing someone that does it is really handy.”

Mrs Black said her goal is to use the donated scraps to compost her garden, which in turn will produce an abundance of produce which she intends to give back to those who donated.

“Part of ShareWaste, half is to do with waste and the other is connecting with the community and the neighbours. I’ve met Marnie today and I probably would never have, it just breaks down barriers that there are within communities,” she said.

“I’ve got an 89-year-old man whose dropping off tiny amounts of waste. I was at the gate another time when someone was dropping off waste and we had a good chat about gardening.

“I’ve been composting for so long and find it so easy to do, sometimes I can’t understand why other people don’t do it, maybe it’s a knowledge thing. I feel if people can’t and don’t want to I can, so we can all join together and do our little bit for the community.”

For more information, go to sharewaste.com.