Kaibosh

you would have seen present via
video conference at the WasteMINZ
Conference in October. (Incidentally,
if you ever get the chance, I highly
recommend taking up any offer by
Dr Swannell to take you for a tour of
Oxford University followed by an ale
at the very old ‘Turf Tavern’.)
I met with Territorial
Authorities (TA) to understand the
underlying rationale, design and
implementation of their organic
programmes as well as progress
they had made against reduction
targets. This included getting out
on the streets during collections to
inspect the quality and quantity of
material and presentation rates.
So, what were my key learnings?
• Firstly, there is a no single silver
bullet solution that suits all
applications. Each TA developed
its own unique solution that
reflected the local economics,
community and political
expectations and the desired
environmental outcomes. So if
you’re exploring the potential
for organic collections and
processing, it’s not as easy as
copying a successful model from
somewhere else.
• When it comes to food waste,
householder participation is the
key and to get them on board
we need to remove, or at very
least reduce, the ‘yuck factor’
associated with handling food
waste in the kitchen. We need to
make this more attractive than
using the rubbish bin. This might
be through something as simple
as the use of kitchen caddy liners
combined with weekly food
waste collections.
• Everywhere I went, compostable
kitchen caddy liners were
considered expensive for house
holders to use relative to the
‘free’ supermarket bags and
this was seen as a significant
barrier to participation. So you
really have to do a thorough
cost-benefit analysis of this and
weigh it up against the various
alternatives (and their related
processing costs).
• Undertaking up-front
behavioural studies to fully
understand the needs and likely
responses from different cultures
and other demographics is an
essential exercise and will help
you not only reduce the risk
but also increase householder
participation. Findings from
these studies should be
combined with pilot trials to
further minimise the risk profile.
• Controlling odours is one of
the biggest issues for organic
material processing and resulted
in a number of plants needing to
undergo major upgrades post
construction. However the fully
enclosed processing facilities
(such as a number of anaerobic
digestion and composting
facilities I visited) had very few
odour issues. So selecting the
correct technology for your
community may cost more in
the initial phases, but it will pay
dividends in the long-term.
It’s incredibly hard to cram seven
weeks of intensive learning into 700
words and there’s so much more
I’d love to share. Suffice to say, that
after the tour my opinions have
changed markedly on a range of
things: from specific technologies
to the importance of knowing your
community, effectively engaging
with them and enforcing the rules.
So if you are exploring the potential
for organic material diversion in your
community, I would be happy to
discuss my findings with you.
George is the Business Development Manager
for Living Earth Limited (LEL) and has nearly 30
years’ experience in research and development
on beneficial use of organic waste into compost
and other growing media products. George has
been with Living Earth since it was established in
1994 and has been instrumental in the construction
and operation of LEL’s Auckland, Wellington and
Christchurch composting plants. George can be
contacted at gfietje@livingearth.co.nz
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