Composting and worm farming workshops a success!
When it comes to turning food scraps into rich, living soil, Surf Coast locals snapped up the opportunity to learn with Richard from Wormlovers - selling out both the April and May workshops at Common Ground Project!
Participants learnt about different types of home composting and worm farming systems, tips for success, and techniques to troubleshoot common challenges. Lachlan from Common Ground Project also led a farm tour, explaining their regenerative farming approach, including examples such as “green manure”, where they plant a crop that is purposely left in the ground to add nutrients back into the soil.
Each participant took home their choice of worm juice or worm castings to try on their garden. Many shared positive feedback including:
“Fantastic event – I learnt a lot more than I expected and feel empowered to begin a compost and worm farm now”.
Top tips:
For worm farms
Aim for 30-50% greens (veggie scraps), 50-70% browns (cardboard, paper), and less than 10% of carbs (bread, pasta). Worms don’t like citrus, onions, meat/seafood and dairy so put these in your FOGO bin instead. Worms like a cool, dark and moist environment, away from sun and heat.
For composting
Layer with equal amounts of brown and green layers, always finishing with a brown layer on top. Ensure to turn material regularly to keep aerated and healthy. Add fine wire across to the bottom of units prevent any rodent issues. For better results aim for smaller pieces and more variety of inputs!
Why is it important to keep food and garden waste out of landfill?
Food and garden waste can create valuable compost, but if it ends up buried in landfill, this material is lost and produces harmful emissions. On the Surf Coast Shire food and garden waste made up an average of 37% of the material in household landfill bins in 2023. Globally, one third of food produced goes to waste, contributing to up to 10% of global greenhouse gasses.
The good news? Reducing food waste and keeping food and garden waste out of landfill is one of the most simple and effective things we can do to address climate change. These workshops are part of Council’s efforts to reduce food waste, with the goal to halve the amount of organics in landfill bins by 2030 by encouraging composting, worm farming and use of FOGO bins.
This workshop was funded by Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) Kerbside Reform Grant.