Aucklanders to use compost as currency this weekend

This weekend, Aucklanders will be able to exchange a bag of food scraps for goods such as coffee beans, muffins and tee-shirts as part of an initiative by organic waste collection business We Compost.

As noted by We Compost Managing Director Steve Rickerby, “Organic waste is not waste at all; in fact it can be turned into a useful resource by composting. Our business provides a collection service for businesses that are unable to compost on site so it can be recovered for beneficial re-use as a high-quality, natural soil amendment.”

Yet Rickerby says that the equivalent of 1,866,664 trailer loads full of organic waste are sent to landfill each year. It costs around $165 per tonne to dispose of this waste - approximately $77 million each year. The aim of the We Compost Weekend is therefore “to encourage Aucklanders to think about their food scraps not as waste but rather as something of value that can be traded”, Rickerby said.

The event is being held from 6-7 September with the support of Auckland Council and more than 30 local businesses, including hair salon Stephen Marr, Kokako cafe, fashion label Sitka and Little Bird Organics cafe. Official We Compost Weekend bags can be collected from these outlets during the week, which can be filled with food waste and exchanged for a variety of rewards on the weekend.

Auckland Council’s Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund has provided a grant to the We Compost Weekend, while advertising agency DDB partnered with Rickerby to conceive the idea and help bring it to life. Together, business toolkits for the participating businesses were developed, including six illustrations which have been used for promotional posters for the biodegradable and compostable We Compost Weekend bags.

For more information, visit the We Compost website or Facebook page.