Back in early 2020, the idea for a community compost initiative was born around a kitchen table in Castlemaine. In the five years since, YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) compost has grown to a thriving, distributed community of composters, their contributing households and a small but dynamic coordination team.

Recently YIMBY passed the milestone of collectively composting 100,000 kilos of food scraps from the Castlemaine area. That is a lot of food that didn’t get thrown in the bin and didn’t get buried in landfill (saving a hefty 223 tons of CO2 equivalent methane). This is also a huge amount of nutrients that didn’t get wasted and are now improving soil and helping grow food in local backyards.

It has taken YIMBY five years to slowly grow to this milestone, but now, every week, the current YIMBY composters (35 strong and growing) are composting nearly 1500 kilos of food scraps.

There are lots of hopes and dreams (and talk) around the idea of the ‘Circular Economy’, but turning food scraps back into food is a genuine loop-closing activity, and it is happening right now, in this community, dispersed in many backyards….and not just YIMBY ones.

YIMBY recently featured on Gardening Australia (Episode 19 on ABC iview) with Costa visiting some YIMBY composters’ gardens and checking out why the community compost model and the Continuous Hot Compost process are unique.

It was great to see some of the wonderful YIMBY folk sharing their stories on the national stage, but mostly it was an affirmation of the whole community who have got behind this initiative with such support.

From the households who separate and give us their food scraps, to the composters who collect buckets every week. From the people who help with the data management systems or website to those who put stickers on bucket lids or give a composter a bucket washing for a week, it all adds up to a community getting on with the work that needs to be done, at a local level, in a way that just works.

With interest coming from far flung areas, YIMBY is offering an online version of their Continuous Hot Compost workshop on the evening of July 30. If you have not had a chance to attend an in-person workshops, this might work for you. Register via the YIMBY website.

Along with regular financial support from the Hub Foundation, grants from the Hugh Williamson Foundation and some generous anonymous donations, Mount Alexander Shire Council has also acknowledged the important work that YIMBY does in reducing waste and building community with $10,000 of funding. YIMBY members appreciate the trust shown to them by all their supporters.

2025 has been a huge year for YIMBY with 11 new composters starting operations just this year, taking the total of community composters to 35 hubs. They have another 17 composters in-training, or getting ready to start, so the momentum is infectious.

– Joel Meadows works with *Yes In My Back Yard, (YIMBY), a community-scale composting initiative in Castlemaine and surrounds. Send questions or comments to hello@yimbycompost.com, or to book in for a compost workshop.