Bike-powered community composting
No space or time to compost, but don’t want to send your scraps to landfill?
We can collect your food scraps every week and turn them into beautiful compost to grow more food at our urban community farm.
Why compost?
Between 30% and 50% of what Auckland sends to landfill from kerbside collection is food scraps.
When organic material is buried in landfill, it breaks down anaerobically (without oxygen), producing harmful methane emissions, and toxic leachate.
At the same time, our soils are being rapidly degraded across the globe, and are in desperate need of the fertility that we’re currently sending to the landfill.
How it works
1. We bring you a 20 litre bucket with a lid (or more than one).
2. You fill it with your food scraps.
3. We collect your food scraps once a week on our e-bike, or you drop them off.
4. Rinse and repeat!
Find out more about how it works, or sign up here
What it costs:
Residential rates:
Bike collection: $35/month, + $25 per extra bucket
Drop-off: $17.50/month, + $15 per extra bucket
Business rates:
Bike collection: $60 + GST/month, + $20 per extra bucket
Drop-off: $30 + GST/month, + $10 per extra bucket
Bokashi bucket drop-off: $5/bucket (pay as you throw)
What is bokashi?
Soil Factory’s proceeds fund Kelmarna Gardens’ work to connect people with nature and food growing, and support people with experience of mental illness and intellectual disability to garden for therapy.
Our Impact
By diverting our community’s food scraps from landfill, we are converting a “waste” problem into a valuable resource that has significant benefits for our food security, soil health, and in mitigating climate change.
Compost builds the fertility of our soils, allowing us to grow nutrient-dense organic food that is naturally strong and resistant to pests, without the use of artificial fertilisers or pesticides. Compost also adds important structure to our soil, increasing water retention, reducing erosion, and allowing plants to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil.
58
Households and businesses helping us build soil
24653
Litres of Food scraps saved from landfill and turned into compost
19238
Litres Other organic materials rescued and composted
“Since joining Soil Factory, my young children have taken a huge interest in composting and reducing waste to landfill.
We’ve been on visits to Kelmarna Gardens so that they can see where their compost ends up - and the team at the Gardens have been amazing at educating and feeding my children’s enthusiasm for looking after their environment.
It’s been amazing how little landfill we send out in the weekly pick up now.”
Natalie, Soil Factory member
Thanks to our supporters who helped the cogs of the Soil Factory to start turning
Auckland Council