COMPOSTING MELBOURNE
Achievement	Target Date	Progress	Description	Further Information

ACHIEVEMENT: At least 75% of Melbourne household maintain a compost bin or heap as a way of reducing household waste and improving their soil.

TARGET DATE: December 2003

PROGRESS: Some.

DESCRIPTION: Composting Melbourne aims to increase the amount of composting occurring on site in Melbourne. Composting is an excellent way of reducing our impact on the environment, while improving the soil around your home. Composting relies largely on natural processes that break down organic household rubbish, such as your vegetable scraps, and ultimately converts them into soil. Micro-organisms effectively eat our scraps and in the process create soil and heat. If the heat produced by composting process is allowed to accumulate, the micro-organisms multiply exponentially, greatly increasing the rate of composting. In combination with the food and water needed for the micro-organisms to live and multiply, this is why food scraps placed in a heap or put in a compost often decomposes much faster than if it is buried and compacted in land fills. A well performing compost bin can convert kitchen scraps into friable soil within as little as six weeks, though in practice, this often takes longer, particularly in the colder winter months, or it the compost is short of either air or water.

Composting on-site also reduces the need for big trucks to pick up an ever increasing amount of rubbish from your house, saving fuel, noise and money.

Diversions of waste from landfill is currently 24.7% of disposed waste (May 04). I do not have a figure for the amount of material composted as this is overwhelmingly done privately at people's homes.

Compost bins are available for purchase from the City of Melbourne and from most major hardware stores and nurseries. Further information on worm farms is available on the City of Melbourne website and doing a word search on 'compost'. Compost bins cost approximately $50 from the Council.

FURTHER INFORMATION: I will list useful sites on composting as I find them to help you with your new hobby:

Everything you needed to know about composting: Manly Environment Centre (NSW)

TumbleTainer and VermiTainer Compost System: Industrial composting systems [for the more ambitious home gardener!]