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Capital Scraps Composting

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24.01.2022 This weekend: Brook from Capital Scraps will be answering all your compost questions at the Springfest Tuggeranong Sustainability day. There are limited tickets available for each workshop so snap yours up now! https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/tuggeranong-springfest-sust

23.01.2022 Have you signed up for the food waste challenge? 1 Million Women have lined up some top chefs to give you some tips on how to get the most out of all that lovely produce that we're so lucky to have within reach. It's not just the emissions from food waste in landfill that we need to save. There's a lot of resources that go into growing the food in the first place (if you've ever tried growing your own you'll understand!).... And from our point of view here at Capital Scraps, the less food waste the less hard work we have to do to recycle what's left. There is no shortage of feedstock to make great compost from, even if we all cut down on the wastage. One of the items that we see commonly is bread and other baked products. But there are heaps of tasty things you can make from stale bread! What is one of your faves? https://1millionwomen.nationbuilder.com/foodwastefreeoctobe

23.01.2022 SCRAPS What's in a word? We're called Capital Scraps to intentionally highlight the word SCRAPS. These are not waste! While some refer to their bucket contents as 'compost' that's the high value product that results after our hard work (and thanks to the amazing transformational abilities of the microorganisms in the compost heaps). Before they become compost they are 'merely' scraps. But by recognising the significant value in compost (soil improver, water retention, nutrien...t exchanger, habitat for soil life, etc.) then we can start to see the inherent value in the scraps. This leads to the realisation that each banana peel is worth saving (and collecting, and processing). So next time you think of this stuff as 'food waste', correct that as 'plant enhancer', 'soil nutrients', '(microbial) community builder', 'carbon with a rosy outlook', 'ingredients for thriving urban ag' etc etc. Or simply scraps with plenty of potential! Btw, food waste quite correctly should be used for food that has gone to waste that otherwise should have fed humans or animals. In recognition that everyone is working to reduce this sort of food waste, we're happy to process the scraps (or largely inedible portions) that remain. less #foodwaste more #compost #terminology for #highermeaning #valuingourresources

23.01.2022 Have you seen the ACT Government's new food waste avoidance campaign? Hands up who could be better with avoiding food waste? I love that the majority of comments on this post by the ACT Gov are along the lines of 'no waste at our house!'. Because that is something to be rightly proud of.... We collect fees for processing food waste, but our business model (not for profit, social enterprise) means that we like to encourage the generation of less food waste. We don't profit off our compost (we couldn't at our scale anyhow), but prefer to recognise the work that is needed to rid our red-lidded bins of any food waste. If we, as a community, produce less food waste then the costs of our operations go down, meaning that all of us can enjoy maximum environmental benefits. So every time you eat that celery by bunging some peanut butter on it before it goes limp you are benefiting the collective good :) https://www.facebook.com/ACTGov/posts/1441281906055205

21.01.2022 Extending beyond the Hackett heartland We started our composting network in Hackett but we now collect up scraps from a large swathe of the Inner North of Canberra. We often get the question, 'when are you going to expand to Gungahlin?', 'when are you going to expand to Macquarie?', 'are you ever going to cross the lake??' And the answer is always that we will go wherever there is demand for our services. So far, our operations are cost effective in Hackett, Watson, Downer an...d Braddon but not elsewhere. We're actually looking for at least 20 more households to sign up in the existing suburbs before we can even think about future expansions. And we're only collecting from a tiny fraction of dwellings in each suburb! With an estimated 40% or less of households in this area recycling their own food scraps we know that there is loads going straight to landfill. Luckily, we have a new option on our website to 'pay it forward' and help us save more scraps: compost.org.au/sign-up We're also happy to continue getting pledges from anyone outside our collection zone. Simply email [email protected] and let us know what suburb you're in and we'll be sure to let you know if the network grows. And to help us shift compost around the network we're angling to get an electric van with our current crowdfunding campaign: https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van

18.01.2022 Supporting our loyal supporters Tash in Lyneham is another loyal supporter who rides her scraps to us each week. We appreciate the dedication! There is an easier way with kerbside pickup but we need collective action, with enough people pledging to use our services in any one suburb.... Email us on [email protected] if you'd like to see scraps collections in your suburb! #climateaction #smallactionsbigdifference #domoretogether

18.01.2022 Every Thursday morning 8-10! Thanks for stopping by last week Meredith :) #fun #recycling #greenspaces #communitycomposting

17.01.2022 I finally got a chance to write a blog post! It's been a huge year. We're hoping 2021 will be even bigger, obvs! In 2020 we built more composters, processed tonnes of food scraps and thought carefully about longevity of operations. We established regular drop-off locations so that we can provide scraps recycling options to the greatest number of people. We're trying to sort out staffing levels for 2021. If you have been thinking of pledging for our services please do so today...! (details in link below) And if composting sounds like your ideal casual job please send an expression of interest to [email protected] We still need a few more pledges from Watson. This suburb has the highest number of pledges currently but still falls short of the 50 that we need to have assurance that our services are in demand. Once we reach that number we can plan a collection route and collect buckets of scraps from door to door in Watson once more. -Brook https://www.compost.org.au/a-year-in-composting/

17.01.2022 Thanks Watsonites! Talking about compost to keen community members is always the best part of a weekend :) And we have new pledges and willing volunteers too! We're genuinely excited about processing tonnes of food scraps from plenty of households in Watson. If you haven't mentioned is to your neighbours yet tomorrow's a great day for it!... I might have had my arm twisted to give another compost talk next weekend, feel free to twist it a little more if you still have questions about what it is we do. #intelligent #canberrans #know #community #compost is the #bestoption

17.01.2022 Following ACT Labour's election campaign on food waste I couldn't help but read some of the comments. Most were favourable as it's generally understood that we need to do something about getting food waste out of landfill. One gentleman was sceptical that efforts to tackle this problem would generate many jobs. Capital Scraps' business model is easily scalable and can provide many jobs and specifically jobs suited to youth workers. Our jobs in logistics, admin and manual labo...ur require a general aptitude and a certain level of responsibility but no prior experience. We wouldn't be able to source the right composting experience anyhow! So we train our staff and give them a new appreciation for the science that makes it all run efficiently. And while this work may seem non-technical, it's actually a great precursor to future jobs in synthetic biology or green chemistry. Understanding the biochemistry of a complex compost heap is no small task, but one that we can use to our collective advantage to find new materials and transformative processes. (If you want a taste of some of the exciting compost science sign up to our science week event) Big dreams! And all of the families and households that have signed up to our collection service are making them happen, thank you!! Brook, Founder and Manager, Capital Scraps

17.01.2022 Did you know? The Institute for Local Self Reliance is an amazing organisation in the USA. Just one of their activities is the Community Composter Coalition, with 125 different organisations getting involved. This network of scraps recycling providers share tips amongst themselves as they all work towards similar goals across the continent. We receive continual inspiration thanks to the efforts of ILSR and social media accounts from many of the community composting organisations. Community composting is not a new idea and makes SOOO much sense but it does take a concerted effort to get right, and to get the whole community on board. https://ilsr.org/composting/community-composter-coalition/ #communitycompost #greenjobs #selfreliance #foodwaste #composting #learning #shared

16.01.2022 SPRINGTIME! If you're not simply enjoying the blossum perhaps you're thinking about starting that veggie garden again. And for everyone to grow more veggies, we could do with boatloads more compost. If you'd like to donate your kitchen scraps to the cause, consider signing up to our curbside collection service: compost.org.au/sign-up... If on the other hand you're a keen composter yourself, but would still like to support our efforts take a look at our current crowdfunding campaign: https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van

15.01.2022 Scraps on bikes indeed! Madeleine in Watson managed to bring 7 little buckets to the drop off point this week. She had been saving them up in the freezer as she wasn't sure how regular the drop off point is. We try and make it easy by being at the same point at the same time each week. But we're hoping to make it even easier by starting the collection service in Watson again! We just need more pledges.... If you'd like to learn how it all works come along to our info session at 10am today at the YWAM community garden on the corner of Aspinall and Zelling St's in Watson. #savingcarbon #bitbybit #climateaction #perseverance #spreadtheword #greenspaces #pedalpower #thingsonbikes

14.01.2022 Making the effort Catherine in Turner walks her scraps over to our drop off point every Thursday. We would love to get more pledges so that it's even easier for everyone to recycle their scraps with us! If we can get 50 households pledging in a suburb then we will roll out a curbside collection service there. In the meantime we're pleased to announce that there will be a second drop off location in Watson from Dec onwards! Watch this space for more details.... #recycling #effort for #cleaner #bins helps us save #resources and put them to good use #everylittlebithelps #gratitude for #awesomecommunity

14.01.2022 Gratitude post. Thankyou to all the absolute legends who took the extra effort to drop scraps to us yesterday. Some by bike! The Lyneham composter is nicely fed as a result, although still not operating at full capacity. We can do so much more! Thanks also to everyone who posed in a 'bucket selfie'. I'm going to post one of these a day to see if we can encourage more people to come along with scraps next week (same place, same time in O'Connor).... Of course if we get enough pledges in your suburb then we can deliver the even more convenient option of doorstep pickup! It's all about changing our relationship with 'waste'. #communityeffort #everyday #Canberrans

12.01.2022 We have a new drop off option! Every Wednesday morning from 7:30-9:30 at the YWAM community garden, corner of Aspinall and Zelling St's. Just look out for our sign. Parking is available on Zelling St if this happens to be on your way to work (tell Gungahlin friends??).... Remember, Capital Scraps is only funded by our users. We charge $3.50 per drop off (subscriptions available) but this covers the effort needed to transform tonnes of food scraps in our modest yet powerful composting hubs. It's a trade off between space/manual labour/quick turnaround. It's the difference between producing methane in the landfill or contributing to inspiring green spaces. See you next Wendesday! #circular #options #localeffort #communitygarden #urbanagriculture #healthysoils

12.01.2022 Haha, too funny! Sunny morning, and sunny again right now but I chose the half hour in the middle of the day to turn the backyard compost heaps, when we got a little flurry of snow. (Hard to see in the pics, and it melted as soon as it hit the ground but was def snow!) -Brook

11.01.2022 Loving the cool summer we're having, it makes it much more possible to run around collecting gutter leaves and other worthwhile tasks. Everyone knows it's better for our waterways to keep these out of the gutters and storm water drains right? And yes, eucalypt leaves are compostable (everything in moderation). We'll even take these off your hands if you'd like to do some raking yourself ... And Happy New Year!!

11.01.2022 Community spirit! Thanks all who came along to the info session this morning. It was great chatting about how we can recycle scraps and use the resulting compost right within Watson, with no need to truck anything anywhere. And yes, believe it or not this composter can handle scraps from 80 (!!) households. So far we've got about 30 pledges but we'd like to see a little more interest before we start our collections again. If everyone who came today tells another Watson reside...nt I think we'll get there :) If you couldn't make it today, email me on [email protected] so that we can chat compost next weekend. I can be on hand at the YWAM Christmas Fair for more curious Watsonites if anyone is keen. #communitygarden #enhancing our #suburbs with #greenery #veggiegarden #localfood #fertilesoil #meetyourneighbours

10.01.2022 Have you seen our crowdfunding campaign yet?? https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van We’ve chosen crowdfunding as a mechanism to grow this social enterprise because it’s a very SOCIAL way to inject capital into an initiative. But what is a social enterprise anyway? The term means slightly different things depending on who you ask. But I’ll take a bash at my own definition:... The first thing that comes to mind is that it’s something that is financially non-viable! That sounds pretty negative, but it’s actually not. We should remember that anything innovative starts off as a financially suspicious proposition. The problem is usually that we, as a society, have not created the market that might allow a certain activity to flourish. There are plenty of activities that are worthy of carrying out but are not profit making exercises. These are often things that we can accomplish as a society by getting our Government to do them. But getting the Government to handle these ‘social good’ activities isn’t always the best option either. This is where social enterprises (businesses that are not directed by the profit motive but are also not charities) step in. In the case of Capital Scraps specifically, we’re motivated by the social good of kitchen scrap recycling within our local areas. We are motivated by doing that as well as we possibly can, with the best environmental outcomes, and also bringing on board as many households in our community as possible. We’ve known for our whole existence that the ACT Govt is planning to bring in their own scraps collection and processing scheme. We are also aware that when you scale up this particular activity and offer the service to everyone at once some problems can occur. Problems like contamination or downright disrespecting of the service and the social good that it aims to bring. Therefore, one of our aims at Capital Scraps is to create that ‘market’ or appetite for responsible household scraps recycling. By setting an example and treating the scraps as a valuable resource we all win in the end. Similarly, with our aims to use an electric van we can use it as an example to other businesses that you can invest in better infrastructure and that the community will reward you for it. Of course, we’re asking for that reward up front! And why not, when this whole deal will only work if we have the backing of the community? We’re super grateful that we can provide our current service for a pretty low service fee. The great news is that we can service more households, keeping those low fees, and having more financial sustainability if we get more people on board. In a way, it’s all up to you. But don’t worry, we’ll also chase up some larger sponsors to try and get us over the line Brook Clinton, Capital Scraps Founder and Manager

09.01.2022 Great work team! This afternoon we had a mini working bee to fix up the community compost at the Ainslie garden. I reckon this particular garden will be sorted for compost this Spring. There's a whole heap (literally) of lovely looking stuff that is ready to use, and the rest isn't too far away. Thanks also to Jane who made good progress getting some of the green waste through the chipper. -Brook... If you'd like to volunteer at our next mini working bee send an email to [email protected] #community #climateaction

08.01.2022 Meet Marni! Some of you may recognise Marni from some of our other pics, as she has been volunteering at Capital Scraps, along with her partner Ben, for quite a while now. But Marni is now a true member of the team at Capital Scraps, on staff! Following a couple of training shifts Marni is now in charge of our Tuesday morning route through Hackett. Marni is completely on board with our processes, quickly memorising her collection route to get it done in the shortest time poss...ible and taking due care with the compost heaps for the best outcome. In this way we can keep our service fees low. When I asked Marni why she likes working at Capital Scraps earlier this week she said mainly it was the fact that it's good work, that aligns with her values. I'm pretty chuffed at that, as that was one of the reasons I wanted to start Capital Scraps, because I knew it would be meaningful work. Marni also loves the physicality of the work and the fact that it's healthy activity. We know that we have all of you as scraps contributors to thank for this meaningful work. If you can think of anyone to help us give Marni another regular shift then send them here: https://www.compost.org.au/sign-up/ Welcome to the team Marni! -Brook Also, we're crowdfunding this month to try to raise enough for an electric van. It's all for climate action! https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van

07.01.2022 Thanks for the write-up The RiotACT! I have to correct one inaccuracy though: our Mills st. composter (seen below) processed 3 tonnes of scraps in only 7 months, and it had a slow start too! Our composters are able to process AT LEAST 6 tonnes in a 12 month period. With our current processes, we keep one bay of the composters empty or mostly empty so that we can 'turn in place' and keep the compost moving. Each full bay is turned about every 3 days, hence why we need the empt...y bay to turn the contents of a full one into. It's all closely orchestrated. But we can get even more sophisticated now that we have an expanding network of composters in a small geographic area. Theoretically we only need one empty bay in the entire network. Therefore, we could significantly increase our processing ability with the addition of a larger vehicle. The trike is great for collecting the buckets of scraps, and we also use it to move 60 kg of so of compost short distances (i.e. from Hackett to Ainslie :) But a whole bay of compost weighs more like half a tonne, so that's where a van could come in handy. If you want to help us get there, contribute to our crowdfunding campaign TODAY! (the campaign is only running this month): https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van https://the-riotact.com/from-kitchen-scraps-to-comm/402640

07.01.2022 Here's another one from the ACT Gov's food waste avoidance campaign "Love Food Hate Waste" With all that money you might save you can afford to sign up to Capital Scraps so that we can take care of the remaining inedible scraps after you've eliminated avoidable food waste :) https://www.facebook.com/ACTGov/posts/1442096369307092

06.01.2022 We have a new subscription plan! Our 'Pay it forward' plan is available for anyone who thinks our fees are too low ;) As noted in a previous post our current service fees cover our operational costs (i.e. staff wages) in some suburbs but not others. If you'd like to ensure that we continue doing what we do you can sign up under the new plan.... Our service fees cover the collection and composting work but they don't pay for infrastructure or other equipment and things like PPE. So far these have been covered by Government grants, or in even more cases by personal funds (from Brook and Scott). We would love to get to the point where we have a little composting depot set up, with a proper bucket washing station, and bike and pitchfork storage etc. But that is all a dream unless more households sign up. Compost.org.au/sign-up If you don't need our services because you already compost at home you can still support what we do in various ways. Including contributing to our crowdfunding campaign which is still running: https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van

06.01.2022 Farewell Bea! Thank you for all of your hard work. We will miss the way you enjoy riding on the frostiest of Canberra mornings and your lovely smile even while getting mucky :) Best of luck on your travels and make sure to report back on your adventures.... And yes! We hope to have a job in composting for you in a few years when you're back ;) #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #sadtoseeyougo but #bestwishes for #newjourneys #newstaff have #bigshoestofill

06.01.2022 Our new Lyneham composter If you saw the short video the other weekend you'll already know that we have a brand new composter as part of our decentralized network of community composting. Below is my favourite progress pic of the composter during construction. Sally (@madebyherhands on Instagram) normally makes fine furniture but she has done an equally excellent job on our new composter. It was almost too good to dirty up with compost... almost.... And James from the Lyneham Commons group was an absolute star providing around 15 hours of volunteering assistance. We couldn't have done it without you James! Thanks also to the rest of the Commons team, as well as the Public Lands team at Transport Canberra and City Services. If you'd like to see the finished product (now operational) pop along to a Lyneham Commons working bee sometime. It's a great community space. If you'd like to support us in our community composting journey, check out our current crowdfunding campaign: (we're angling for a handy little electric van) https://startsomegood.com/projects/Capital-Scraps-E-Van

05.01.2022 Give yourselves a huge pat on the back!! The other day I got an update from ABC Your Planet, did everyone else watch the show hosted by Craig Ruecassel? It stated that 18,000 Aussies had pledged some lifestyle changes as climate actions to save over 7000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). Every little bit helps! By the same calculation, and even accounting for the methane that is captured at the Mugga lane tip, collectively at Capital Scraps we are saving 33 tonnes of... CO2e every year! THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS All contributors to Capital Scraps should be hugely proud, and know that you are delivering multiple benefits to your community, over and above the savings in greenhouse gases. And if you haven't signed up yet: https://www.compost.org.au/sign-up/ #compost #communitycompost #climateaction #greenjobs #endlandfillgas #moreplantsnotmethane ABC Australia Actsmart - Canberra SEE-Change

04.01.2022 Nat from Watson has supported us for a long time! We'd love to support her efforts in kind by bringing back the curbside collection so that she doesn't have to stop by O'Connor. Do you have a friend in Watson that you can mention us to? We're slowly gathering pledges so that we can afford to run our collection service there once more. #saving #carbon #together takes a little #effort but we know #itsworthit

03.01.2022 Happy New Year everyone! - this little triangular patch is the result of five weeks work. Five weeks ago we seeded our Watson composter and have been feeding it with local food scraps since. Yesterday we harvested some compost and spread it thickly onto this triangular area to allow it to mature in place. (with a straw blanket on top to keep it moist) There's plenty more space for building new and highly productive soil at this garden. Watson residents who are already droppin...g scraps to us are asking when the collection service will resume but we still need a few more people to pledge to sign up. If you want the convenience of weekly scraps collection from your doorstep then email [email protected]. Let's do more to green up Canberra in 2021! #saving #scraps from #turninginto #landfillgas #growingplants instead #gratitude for #volunteereffort Thanks Ken and Lucy!

03.01.2022 Hi awesome compost supporters, I've been a bit quiet on here and very quiet on our website as Bea and I have been super busy collecting up literally tonnes of kitchen scraps, and building and planning more 'urban compost hubs' to extend our composting network. Seeing as so many households are getting involved, and we have an ever growing 'pledge list' of households outside of our collection zone, it's now time to really scale up! One of the next steps to scale up and extend o...ur reach is to get more transport options. We want to stay low-carbon! So we're looking to get an electric van but we need funds to do so. Getting the van will mean that we can be more efficient than ever with our existing composting processes (essentially moving compost heaps around the network of compost hubs instead of just turning them in place), and we might even be able to start collecting scraps in Belco or Gungahlin. We need to reach the $35,000 goal this month in order to get any funds from the crowdfunding campaign so please give generously. - Brook Clinton, Capital Scraps Founder and Manager https://startsomegood.com/Capital-Scraps-E-Van And yes, we're aware that ACT Labour have promised a new facility for household organics recycling. Interesting fact, if we were to build enough composters to service all of Canberra's household food waste it would cost $26 million dollars ($4 million cheaper than ACT Labour's announcement). That's before any bulk discounts on materials, and including labour costs which account for more than half of that figure (just a few more than ACT Labour's estimate of 'up to 200'!). Just one of the many reasons to support us :) Capital Brewing Co. Goterra Alicia Payne MP SEE-Change Lyneham Commons Hackett Community Association Canberra Environment Centre Conservation Council ACT Region Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment CanberraEV The Compost Depot

01.01.2022 Bucket run done! Just a reminder: we collect buckets nice and early some mornings (especially in summer!) So, leave them out the night before so you don't miss us. #efficient #service means we keep our fees low so we can #savemorecarbon

01.01.2022 We love that urban agriculture is no longer just a hippie dream. Cities all over the world are greening up! And this actually helps the waste management side of things. From the article: "London has committed to ensuring that by 2026 no biodegradable or recyclable waste will be sent to landfill" Of course we'll need plenty of organics recycling infrastructure to go along with the growing space ;) Luckily, our composters are designed specifically for the urban space.

01.01.2022 Did you catch us on the news tonight? Thanks to WIN news for the mention of our crowdfunding campaign! https://startsomegood.com/Capital-Scraps-E-Van... We're also looking for more people to sign up so that we can keep our new Lyneham composter well fed. https://www.compost.org.au/sign-up/ https://www.facebook.com/WINNewsCanberra/posts/3316902571708084

01.01.2022 Neighbours working together George in Turner is another local who is happy to walk his scraps to us. We chatted about how to make the drop off point easier for others. The easiest option is curbside pickup though! Pledge for service in your suburb today: write to [email protected] and tell us which subscription you'd be willing to pay... $12 per month discount for apartment dwellers $15 per month standard $30 per month 'pay it forward' (counts as two pledges!) We're getting close to being able to restart collections in Watson! Just need a few more pledges... #communitycompost #climateaction #bettertogether #wecandomore