YIMBY is set to expand access to backyard compost hubs in Castlemaine after a very enthusiastic response to a call for new composters earlier this year.
Having completed an intensive advanced composting workshop with YIMBY educators, Mikaela Beckley, Joel Meadows and Nico Pye, the new team is ready to make some great compost, from your food scraps.
As a hyper-local approach to diverting organics away from landfill, the YIMBY crew members are ready to hit the streets of their neighbourhood and to sign up new households.
Participating households put their food scraps in a supplied bucket each week, it’s picked up and processed to produce nutrient dense compost, the likes of which money can’t buy.
“All households have access to a YIMBY drop-off service, when registered, but not all households can yet be connected with a composter in their street,” said Lucy Young, YIMBY coordinator.
“At the moment we are focusing on two specific areas, North Richards Road and Farnworth Street, and the blocks around the Doveton Street Café.”
YIMBY has developed its own composting method, specifically designed to process food scraps from 10-20 households in each hub.
YIMBY aims to eventually be available to all households in the Mount Alexander Shire, as a human-scale alternative a curb-side truck collection system, and is currently servicing about 170 households.
“Not everyone can make compost effectively, nor does everyone want to, YIMBY is about supporting the passionate, to be highly skilled, and preventing food scraps from going into the rubbish bin, where they can contribute to nasty greenhouse gases, it’s also about building strong and connected communities,” Lucy said.
Composter Ilka said YIMBY had been fantastic for her.
“My composting has gone next level, and we are turning tonnes of food scraps into beautiful compost for our gardens,” she said.
Over the next couple of weeks, composters will be knocking on their neighbours’ doors, or leaving a postcard in their letterbox, hoping to get enough food scraps to start their first very active, microbially rich, compost systems, to put theory to practice and create high quality, nutrient dense compost.
“ I love being part of YIMBY, I used to feel guilty putting my food scraps in the bin, I knew it was harmful, I didn’t know what else to do and don’t want to make my own compost as I work full time. Now I know I’m part of the solution,” said Jane, who signed up to have her food scraps collected.
Now in its third year, the YIMBY crew are inviting people to register on their website, www.yimbycompost.com, to have their food scraps picked up, or to learn more about how to support or be involved.
