By Callum Ludwig
Warburton residents are being called on to help bring together a Community Compost Hub through the Koha Community Cafe.
The hub will be located at the Koha Community Garden near the back of the Warburton Primary School and there are a couple of working bees coming up to help finish the project off.
Koha Community Cafe Garden Coordinator Johnathon McLay said is somewhere where members of the community can drop off their compost waste, rather than having to maintain one at home.
“After registering, they’re able to then have information about what isn’t accepted. pick up a compost caddy if they want to want one and then be connected to the hub as well via the community garden, growing veggies and joining other projects,” he said.
“It’s all about reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill as well as benefiting the community garden, whether that’s us at Koha or the various other community gardens that have one of these hubs as well.”
Started in Pakenham by the Community Alliance for Waste Reduction and Sustainability (CAWRS) with help from a Sustainability Victoria grant, Community Compost Hubs have since popped up in Wesburn (Yarra Valley ECOSS), Healesville and Kilsyth.
Mr McLay said the new hub will be an important upgrade.
“Our compost system at the moment is very old-fashioned, still the old bins where there is a lot more work to turn over and actually produce compost, whereas a purpose-built system to add the food scraps and a carbon input like untreated wood shavings makes it easier to balance and manage,” he said.
“This way we can turn it over quicker every week, get compost quicker and it’s a lot easier to control the outcome and then we can put that on our veggie beds and grow a lot more vegetables, as well as reducing our costs in not buying it, which we used to do.”
The Hub design consists of three bays and a metal food waste drop-off bin, built using recycled hardwood pallets, star pickets, vermin mesh and a shade cloth-lined wooden lid for each bay.
Mr McLay said the working bee and the hub itself are such a big opportunity for the community to connect with the Koha Garden.
“They might even decide to make a system themselves at home, go pick up their own recycled wooden pallets from outside the back of Bunnings and buy their own materials if they like, it’s about education and social cohesion,” he said.
“It would mean a huge amount to have some help from people in the community who’ve got a spare hour or two on the working bee days, we’ve had volunteers working on the first two working bees who haven’t done this before and we are very supportive of all skill and ability levels.”
The next working bee is on Saturday 11 February from 1pm to 3pm, which will involve finishing a large back wall piece and constructing side wall pieces, with a following session from the same time on Sunday 26 February to finish constructing side wall pieces and construct the internal divider pieces. More sessions will be organised into March as needed.
Anyone interested in attending the working bees can bring along a chair, sun protection, outdoor work clothing, pliers/hammer and gloves (if you have them). Snacks, cold drinks, tables and some chairs and gloves, ear and eye protection (as required) will be provided for those who don’t have them.
Entrance is via the sealed driveway between 7 and 9 Riverside Drive, Warburton, signposted by Koha Garden signs.
