Photo by Kat Pearson.
BY KAT PEARSON, GIRL IN THE GREEN
One of the milestones of being seen as a ‘good gardener’ is having a functioning compost heap. You hear basically two views on composting. A: That it’s easy, uncomplicated, no specific ratios needed – just a good mix of brown (carbon) and green (nitrogen) and off you go. B: You need a specific ratio of brown and green, layered correctly, mixed, flipped, watered, covered when it rains, protected from rats, internal temperature monitored, etc., etc.
In my opinion, you can choose either option, and what you get out reflects what you put in! I admit, I don’t put a lot of effort into mine. It’s an open heap that I randomly pile all my garden clippings on. I try to chop things up and run larger branches through my chipper because smaller pieces break down more quickly, but I have also been known to just dump an armful of green waste on top and smash it with a spade (ok, so I delegate the smashing to my husband…). Eventually, the bottom of the pile breaks down, and I get some beautiful compost. But it is far from an efficient process, and I hardly get a regular supply.
Introducing The WasteWorks, a small Brisbane-based company, making top-quality compost, which is as good, if not better, than the home-made variety (especially if you make it like me). On top of making a brilliant product, they are keeping commercial organic waste (food scraps and garden waste) out of landfill. Their equipment basically just manages, standardises, and somewhat speeds up the process of making normal compost, but it is still completely natural. They also have a special fungal heap that produces even better fungi-enriched compost, perfect for trees and shrubs. No tricks, no gimmicks. Just compost. Proper compost. (Not to speak poorly of anyone, but most commercial composts you can buy are chipped-up green waste that hasn’t decomposed fully yet).
If you already make excellent compost at home, I applaud you. If, like me, you attempt to make compost at home and the results are a little hit-and-miss, I also applaud you (any organics saved from landfill is a win). If you ever need to buy a bag of good compost (or their easy peasy pelleted Compost Confetti), check out these guys and support a local company working to create a more sustainable world.
The WasteWorks holds a Compost Market Day on the first Saturday of each month (8:00am-12:00pm, 62D Blunder Road, Oxley). Follow them on Instagram or Facebook, or visit wasteworks.shop
