Why everyone can (and should) join the composting revolution

Are you a time-poor urban apartment-dweller who’s put composting in the too-hard basket? Read on…

About half of what Aucklanders chuck in their rubbish bins is actually compostable material. That means a whopping 90,000 tonnes of Auckland households’ food waste ends up in landfill each year. Why is that a problem? It breaks down without oxygen and produces the potent greenhouse gas methane – and that, it goes without saying, is bad news. 

Composting, on the other hand, returns nutrients to the soil to support photosynthesis, which removes carbon from the atmosphere. For those reasons, composting is one of the most important things you, as an individual, can do to fight climate change. 

This is a point The Compost Collective, a collaborative project supported by Auckland Council, is trying to hammer home through the workshops it holds regularly throughout the city, as well as convincing doubters that composting really isn’t such a big deal. 

“A lot of people visualise this big messy compost bin in the corner of a yard, and as soon as they’ve got that picture, that’s it, they’ve ruled out any opportunity of being able to do it,” says Pip Beagley, who runs workshops on the North Shore through The Compost Collective.

Pip Beagley taking a bokashi workshop in Kumeu (Photo: Supplied)

A hefty traditional outdoor compost bin is just one of several methods you can learn in the workshops. Renters, those who live in units or apartments in the city or anyone without much outdoor space – which is increasing numbers of us in Tāmaki Makaurau – can do their bit for the climate just as successfully as those Aucklanders who have big suburban backyards. 

One option is ShareWaste, a resource that connects people who have food scraps with their neighbours who are already composting, worm farming or have chooks to feed. You can browse a map to see who’s near you, then send them a private message to arrange the transaction. Kind of like Tinder for composting. Of course, you can go the old-fashioned route by bypassing the website and simply asking around your neighbours, friends, family and workmates too.

In this scenario, you can keep your scraps in a basic compost caddy (top tip: in the sweltering summer months, put it in the fridge so it doesn’t get gross), or try out a bokashi system, which means less frequent toing and froing with your scraps.

If it’s warm and you’re not adding your scraps to your compost every day, keep it in the fridge (Photo: Supplied)

Bo-what now? Bokashi is a Japanese system that basically pickles your food waste to create nutrient-rich compost. A bin with holes sits inside another bin, you add your food scraps and cover it with a couple of spoonfuls of a bran-like “sprinkle” that contains microorganisms to kickstart the fermentation process, then squish it down (a potato masher works well) and close the airtight lid. Get in the habit of doing this every day, even if you only have a small number of scraps. Every two to three days, drain off the liquid that collects in the outside bin, which you can dilute and add to your plants, or tip down the toilet or sink to help keep them clean. When the bin’s full, close the lid and keep it in a warm place for 10 to 14 days (but keep draining off the liquid).  

Compost Collective workshop facilitator Jennifer Kerr says bokashi is her number one suggestion for apartment dwellers and others for whom space is an issue. “They’re very small and pretty simple – it can even go under your sink.”

Beagley likes to think of it as a storage unit. “It’s stored in a low-odour situation until you’re ready to deal with it, until you’ve got time to take it to your ShareWaste person or to the neighbours to be dug in.”

Yep that’s right, this is low-odour composting. “The best bokashis actually smell so good you almost want to eat it,” says Kerr. “In my workshops I pass around a sample of some bokashi juice and it smells almost like fruit punch – I have to tell people not to drink it!”

Hmm, that certainly wasn’t my experience when I attempted bokashi in my apartment, I admit – it kinda stunk. Beagley and Kerr are quick with the troubleshooting tips: was I adding fresh scraps every day, not letting them sit in a compost caddy to start going off before putting them in the bokashi? Ah, that could be the problem. Another piece of advice: if it does start to smell, just add more sprinkle. 

Bokashi being added to a traditional compost bin (Photo: Supplied)

Another benefit of bokashi is that it can take the vast majority of food waste, including meat and cooked and processed foods that other systems struggle with. Just make sure the scraps are in smallish pieces (golf ball-sized is a good guideline) and avoid liquids. 

Once your bokashi bin is full and has had its fortnight rest period, the solid waste needs to be dug into a garden or simply added to a traditional compost bin. You shouldn’t find it too hard to find someone via ShareWaste or your neighbourhood social network who’s keen to take it. 

Alternatively, see if there’s a community garden in your area – you could even get involved with your own plot. “Then you’re taking your scraps there and growing vegetables in it to take home – completing that natural cycle,” says Kerr.

For those who lack space, a worm farm is another option for dealing with food waste. Kerr and Beagley often suggest worm farms for families with children, as it’s a fascinating process for curious kids to get involved with. Worm farms produce castings (essentially worm poo) and “worm tea”, both of which are wonderful for the garden and you can share with grateful ShareWaste “hosts”. The downside is as worms are a bit fussy, you can’t add anything too spicy or acidic – citrus is out, for example.

A worm farm in action (Photo: Supplied)

The Compost Collective workshops are free to attend and if you go to one you’ll get a $40 discount code to spend on the composting system of your choice, which would take a bokashi bin and two bags of the “sprinkle” that will last you a year or so down to around $70, depending on size. Check out the website to find a workshop near you at a time that suits, or if you can’t make it in person, you can school yourself via the website and complete an online quiz, which will nab you a $28 discount. For an even cheaper option, The Compost Collective also holds workshops on how to make your own bokashi bin from scratch. 

So there’s no excuse not to join the composting revolution. “We try to emphasise how easy it is,” says Kerr. “By providing discounts on products it makes it more affordable, and they’re delivered so you don’t have to go out to get them. 

“We’ve taught you how to do it, and we’re always available – the contact details for the facilitators are on the website, and the Facebook page is a great place for support and follow-up – a lot of troubleshooting happens there.”

As Beagley says, in a time of uncertainty and fear around climate change, “it gives you the power. A lot of people are feeling worried and disempowered because the problem is so big – ’what can I do?’ But you can do a lot.”

This content was created in paid partnership with The Compost Collective. Learn more about our partnerships here.

Should vegetarians bite the bullet and go vegan? Let’s weigh up the evidence

The rise of ‘plant-based’ diets seems like a win for those who decry eating meat. But some vegan groups claim the halfway step of vegetarianism is ineffectual if you really care about animal cruelty, climate change, or your own personal health.

An article in the Guardian last year asked “Why do people hate vegans?”, suggesting that the recent popularity of the looser term “plant-based” is because it avoids the perceived rigidity and high-mindedness of veganism. After all, who wants to be told by some hippy know-it-all that your wine was actually fined using fish bladder or the connective tissue of cows? The same spirit lay behind Paul McCartney’s campaign for everyone to try “meat-free Mondays” which saw any decrease in meat-eating as a step in the right direction.

Yet many animal rights groups argue that halfway steps aren’t enough and that full veganism is the only justifiable stance. For example, a recent article on the PETA website questioned whether eating cheese might actually be worse than eating meat, and SAFE encourages members to go dairy-free. Even if you’re simply going “plant-based” for health or environmental reasons, there are questions about the efficacy of vegetarianism.

A confronting cow (Photo: Getty Images)

Animal welfare

The primary difference between vegans and vegetarians is whether or not they eat eggs and dairy products. Both of these commodities require only the female of the species (the cow or the hen). So what happens to all those young males?

In the dairy industry, young bulls make up the majority of the “bobby calves” and are separated from their mothers at birth then killed for their meat. Of the 4.6 million calves born in New Zealand each year, around 40% are bobby calves. This wasteful slaughter has led local researchers to investigate allowing bobby calves to survive longer or using them for producing wagyu meat. 

The position of animal rights activists on this issue was captured well by Joaquin Phoenix in his recent Oscars speech:

“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”

The situation for male chicks in the egg industry is similar to their bull counterparts – they are killed soon after hatching. What’s more, the quality of life for the hens that survive is probably worse than for cows (at least, the grass-fed cows primarily grown in New Zealand). Despite our country moving away from the tiny battery cages of old, the “colony cages” widely in use are still very crammed.

The response to these criticisms is usually to point out that life in nature isn’t all that cruelty-free either. If cows and chickens lived in the wild, they would be hunted by other animals, catch diseases, and die young. Perhaps their deaths should not distress us as long as they are quick and their lives in the interim are relatively painless? Yet even if the morality of factory farming is put aside, there are other issues with dairy and egg production that affect us directly.

Climate change

Cattle farming is widely acknowledged as having a large contribution towards climate change – primarily through the methane that cows burp out as they feed, but also the emissions associated with growing cow feed, transport, deforestation for farmland etc. While this may provide a reason for non meat-eaters to feel smug, vegetarians may find they are throwing rocks from within a glasshouse. Research by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in 2011 found that cheese can also be a high-emission food. 

Full Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Common Proteins and Vegetables (Environmental Working Group, 2011)

The problem with cheese is that you need a lot of milk to create it – four litres per kilogram for a soft cheese (paneer) and upwards of eight litres for a hard cheese (eg parmesan, which also requires a long ageing time). However, the EWG results have been seen as biased (they are an activist/lobbying group) and a summary of more recent studies has suggested that a) emissions vary widely depending on how a commodity is produced and that b) cheese causes fewer emissions than any variety of meat (when you consider serving size rather than per kg). 

Dairy milk itself has its own problems in a New Zealand context, since Fonterra is the second-largest user of coal in the country (the company uses it in its milk-drying facilities, though is gradually moving to wood pellets). However, vegans might find the replacement milk products they use have their own problems – for example, almond milk is often made from Californian nuts (they provide 80% of the world market), but it is hugely water-intensive for such a drought-affected state and also requires the use of 60% of US commercial bees (often resulting in massive die-offs). 

The Guardian’s investigation into this area suggested oat milk was the best alternative (with soy milk a close second). 

Fonterra’s dairy factory at Darfield, Canterbury (Photo: Fonterra)

Personal health

Did you know that Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton and both Serena and Venus Williams are vegan? The idea that high-performance athletes function best without animal products was boosted by the documentary The Game Changers, though some have argued it’s a biased work since its main producer, James Cameron, has a heavy investment in plant-based faux meats and fake cheeses.

There are now a glut of Netflix documentaries that promote veganism – for example the Joaquin Phoenix-produced What The Health, Forks Over Knives and Cowspiracy. Unfortunately these films also share a fair amount of pseudoscience. What The Health claims drinking milk causes cancer (there is no evidence for this) and that “eating just one an egg a day can be as bad as smoking five cigarettes for life expectancy” (a huge exaggeration). It also posits a conspiracy by the global dairy industry to question the unhealthiness of the saturated fat in butter and cheese (less clear, though it’s that true many scientists have fought back against pro-saturated-fat claims).   

There is some evidence that both vegan and vegetarian diets do reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but current evidence puts them at a similar level of healthiness to the Mediterranean and “New Nordic” diets. In fact, the vegetarian diet is often judged to be better since it provides easier access to essential nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and B12 (being low in the latter in particular is a risk for vegans unless they take supplements or ingest enough foods fortified with B12).

 

All in all, the best health advice remains similar to what we’ve been told for decades – eat more vegetables and fruit, while reducing your intake of processed food. Vegetarians do seem to have a healthy diet that is relatively easy to sustain and they come close to vegans in terms of their impact on the environment. There is nonetheless a strong case for veganism, especially in terms of animal welfare – just as long as you don’t believe everything you see on Netflix.

Should vegetarians bite the bullet and go vegan? Let’s weigh up the evidence

The rise of ‘plant-based’ diets seems like a win for those who decry eating meat. But some vegan groups claim the halfway step of vegetarianism is ineffectual if you really care about animal cruelty, climate change, or your own personal health.

An article in the Guardian last year asked “Why do people hate vegans?”, suggesting that the recent popularity of the looser term “plant-based” is because it avoids the perceived rigidity and high-mindedness of veganism. After all, who wants to be told by some hippy know-it-all that your wine was actually fined using fish bladder or the connective tissue of cows? The same spirit lay behind Paul McCartney’s campaign for everyone to try “meat-free Mondays” which saw any decrease in meat-eating as a step in the right direction.

Yet many animal rights groups argue that halfway steps aren’t enough and that full veganism is the only justifiable stance. For example, a recent article on the PETA website questioned whether eating cheese might actually be worse than eating meat, and SAFE encourages members to go dairy-free. Even if you’re simply going “plant-based” for health or environmental reasons, there are questions about the efficacy of vegetarianism.

A confronting cow (Photo: Getty Images)

Animal welfare

The primary difference between vegans and vegetarians is whether or not they eat eggs and dairy products. Both of these commodities require only the female of the species (the cow or the hen). So what happens to all those young males?

In the dairy industry, young bulls make up the majority of the “bobby calves” and are separated from their mothers at birth then killed for their meat. Of the 4.6 million calves born in New Zealand each year, around 40% are bobby calves. This wasteful slaughter has led local researchers to investigate allowing bobby calves to survive longer or using them for producing wagyu meat. 

The position of animal rights activists on this issue was captured well by Joaquin Phoenix in his recent Oscars speech:

“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.”

The situation for male chicks in the egg industry is similar to their bull counterparts – they are killed soon after hatching. What’s more, the quality of life for the hens that survive is probably worse than for cows (at least, the grass-fed cows primarily grown in New Zealand). Despite our country moving away from the tiny battery cages of old, the “colony cages” widely in use are still very crammed.

The response to these criticisms is usually to point out that life in nature isn’t all that cruelty-free either. If cows and chickens lived in the wild, they would be hunted by other animals, catch diseases, and die young. Perhaps their deaths should not distress us as long as they are quick and their lives in the interim are relatively painless? Yet even if the morality of factory farming is put aside, there are other issues with dairy and egg production that affect us directly.

Climate change

Cattle farming is widely acknowledged as having a large contribution towards climate change – primarily through the methane that cows burp out as they feed, but also the emissions associated with growing cow feed, transport, deforestation for farmland etc. While this may provide a reason for non meat-eaters to feel smug, vegetarians may find they are throwing rocks from within a glasshouse. Research by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in 2011 found that cheese can also be a high-emission food. 

Full Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Common Proteins and Vegetables (Environmental Working Group, 2011)

The problem with cheese is that you need a lot of milk to create it – four litres per kilogram for a soft cheese (paneer) and upwards of eight litres for a hard cheese (eg parmesan, which also requires a long ageing time). However, the EWG results have been seen as biased (they are an activist/lobbying group) and a summary of more recent studies has suggested that a) emissions vary widely depending on how a commodity is produced and that b) cheese causes fewer emissions than any variety of meat (when you consider serving size rather than per kg). 

Dairy milk itself has its own problems in a New Zealand context, since Fonterra is the second-largest user of coal in the country (the company uses it in its milk-drying facilities, though is gradually moving to wood pellets). However, vegans might find the replacement milk products they use have their own problems – for example, almond milk is often made from Californian nuts (they provide 80% of the world market), but it is hugely water-intensive for such a drought-affected state and also requires the use of 60% of US commercial bees (often resulting in massive die-offs). 

The Guardian’s investigation into this area suggested oat milk was the best alternative (with soy milk a close second). 

Fonterra’s dairy factory at Darfield, Canterbury (Photo: Fonterra)

Personal health

Did you know that Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton and both Serena and Venus Williams are vegan? The idea that high-performance athletes function best without animal products was boosted by the documentary The Game Changers, though some have argued it’s a biased work since its main producer, James Cameron, has a heavy investment in plant-based faux meats and fake cheeses.

There are now a glut of Netflix documentaries that promote veganism – for example the Joaquin Phoenix-produced What The Health, Forks Over Knives and Cowspiracy. Unfortunately these films also share a fair amount of pseudoscience. What The Health claims drinking milk causes cancer (there is no evidence for this) and that “eating just one an egg a day can be as bad as smoking five cigarettes for life expectancy” (a huge exaggeration). It also posits a conspiracy by the global dairy industry to question the unhealthiness of the saturated fat in butter and cheese (less clear, though it’s that true many scientists have fought back against pro-saturated-fat claims).   

There is some evidence that both vegan and vegetarian diets do reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but current evidence puts them at a similar level of healthiness to the Mediterranean and “New Nordic” diets. In fact, the vegetarian diet is often judged to be better since it provides easier access to essential nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and B12 (being low in the latter in particular is a risk for vegans unless they take supplements or ingest enough foods fortified with B12).

 

All in all, the best health advice remains similar to what we’ve been told for decades – eat more vegetables and fruit, while reducing your intake of processed food. Vegetarians do seem to have a healthy diet that is relatively easy to sustain and they come close to vegans in terms of their impact on the environment. There is nonetheless a strong case for veganism, especially in terms of animal welfare – just as long as you don’t believe everything you see on Netflix.