Thousands of homes are composting
About 30 per cent of households in Palmerston North are estimated to be have a composting system.
Massey University student Sabina Mensah is researching home composting practices in the city and found that about 10,000 households could be digging deep to save the environment.
Mensah, from Ghana, is completing a masters of environmental management as she hopes more people turn to compost heaps rather than throwing organic waste into landfill.
Each year, about 1.3 billion metric tonnes of solid waste was generated globally, of which organic waste made up 46 per cent, Mensah said. Disposal of organic waste into general landfill could lead to greenhouse gases and also caused recyclables, such as plastics, metal and paper, to be contaminated. This made it harder to recycle them, she said.
Mensah included 300 households in her data collection across 15 suburbs in Palmerston North. About 30 per cent of the households that participated in the study were home composters, which suggested that about 10,000 of the 30,000 occupied dwellings in Palmerston North practise composting. Mensah’s data collection included looking at people’s operational systems, personal knowledge, awareness and barriers encountered in home composting. Home composting was costeffective and better for the environment, as it meant fewer greenhouse gases were created, she said.
According to the Palmerston North City Council, people could compost seaweed, fruit, vegetables, tea bags and even cardboard and paper. Council rubbish and recycling asset engineer Natasha Hickmott said in 2012, the amount of organic waste from residential properties in Palmerston North going to the landfill was estimated at 12,639 tonnes, about 29 per cent of the total waste.
The council is preparing to assess waste this year to determine if this has changed. The supply of home composting bins could happen in the future, Hickmott said.
Green waste drop-off points at the Awapuni Resource Recovery Park and transfer stations in Ashhurst and Bunnythorpe take greenery such as grass clippings, but not food scraps. The total green waste dropped off at these sites was about 4000 tonnes a year, Hickmott said.