FAQs

The best way to bring ShareWaste to your town or neighbourhood is to register and spread the word about us there. Everywhere.

• Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sharewaste/id1265610902
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sharewaste.app.production

1. A map marker showing the location of your listing and the street name (without street number)
2. The information you wrote into your public profile and your small profile picture.

If you would like to point the map marker away from your exact location for privacy reasons (e.g. to point it at the street rather at your house), you can do that from your listing settings page (click the "customize marker location" link).

Here is our Privacy Policy in full for you to review.

We use SSL encryption for all data (that means we don’t send anything in plain-text over the Internet). If you have any concerns about your privacy, please contact us on [email protected].

• Green icon of a compost is an active compost host you can reach out to
• Chicken icon represents a compost host who keeps chickens, other animals and may have a compost bin / worm farm as well.
• Grey icon is a non-active compost host
• Orange flower icon stands form community gardens, farms and other community places
• Coffee bean represents a cafe or another small hospitality business

1. Divert nutritious organic matter from landfill and turn it into new soil and fertiliser; and
2. Bring people together.

These two goals are equally important to us so after you have registered, please take a minute to read our Community Ethics:

• Give enough information. Always provide specific information about what items you accept and what not (in your profile listing and consequently in conversations with new donors). If your location address changes, don't forget to change it in your listing and let your current donors know in advance.

• Prevent disappointment. If you can't temporarily accept waste, disable your compost. This will save you from unwanted emails or messages and won't lead to sad or disappointed donors.
  If you know you won't be able to accept waste from your current donors, inform them in advance. They need enough time to find an alternative solution; we know from experience it can be heart-breaking to see one’s waste ending up in garbage again after starting to recycle it!

• Share knowledge and skills. Make sure your donor knows what to expect at the drop-off and always give them correct and complete information. Explain to them how you recycle their waste and use the finished products. Don't be shy to share the skills and knowledge you have – many donors would love to be able to compost themselves one day and grow their own produce. You can be the one who sparks their interest or even helps them get started!

• Be supportive and show appreciation. Most donors start from scratch and often know little about composting. They had been throwing their organic waste into garbage for a long time and recently decided to change this and start to recycle voluntarily. For most, this is a significant change in their lifestyle, and they need to form new habits around it - which is not easy. Show them you appreciate their efforts and that you are grateful for what they do. Sometimes it makes all the difference.

• Stay in touch. If you feel comfortable with this, you can exchange email addresses or contact numbers for easier communication. Be a good community member and show interest. If you haven't seen your donor for a while, don't hesitate to get in touch with them to check how they are doing.
  

• Follow the host’s rules. Every host has their own rules. Make sure you know them well. Find out what items the host accepts and what not, in what form and how often. Ensure the people you share your household with are aware of this information as well. No host deserves to see plastic in their compost bin, wrong items in the worm farm or leaking paper bags with scraps on their porch. If a hosts asks you to stir the compost/add water/cover the top with mulch etc., always follow the routine to keep the their compost in top condition.

• Create a routine. Once you've done your first drop-off, find a routine and stick to it so that the host knows when and how often to expect your visit. Connect your regular drop-off with an early morning run, afternoon walk with your dog or a short diversion on your way to pick-up kids from school.

• Be responsive. If you receive a message, try to respond as soon as possible. If you have contacted a host and decided not to start composting with them, always thank them for replying. “Thank you, I have found a closer host to my home” is always a good reply. We’re building a community network that brings together people who care. Please show that you care and don’t leave the kind hosts hanging.

• Be polite and show appreciation. Everybody loves to be appreciated - our hosts who often go above and beyond to cater to several waste donors, open their gardens to them and manage waste produced by several families in their own time. So say it and write it: thank you. After all, there is nothing like “too many thank yous”. ;)

• Stay in touch. If your host feels comfortable with it, you can exchange email addresses or contact numbers for easier communication. Be a person your host will always be happy to see and talk to. Don’t forget to let them know if you are going on holidays and won't come to drop off or if you have found a closer host and won't be contributing to their composting bin any more.
  

• Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sharewaste/id1265610902
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sharewaste.app.production

• what you will/will not accept
• what is your exact location and how to get there (we don't display this information publicly)
• when they can deliver their waste and in what form

Here's a few tips on what you could do:

• Follow us on Instagram and Facebook
• Let the local Council / environmental organisations know about us
• Invite your friends and family to join
• Spread the word on social media, share us in relevant Facebook groups
• Write a story about us on your blog or other platform
• Put a poster on your local community notice boards (you can download it from the main www.sharewaste.com) page

First, the compost host keeps several spare sealable containers at an accessible place. The donor simply swaps their full container for an empty one, which they then take home. It is up to the host, whether they ask the donors to empty their container into their compost or if they prefer to do this themselves.

Second, the donor delivers their waste in a container or a bag, which they leave at a designated place or which they give to their compost host in person at an arranged time.

In case of community gardens and other community places (council run compost hubs and similar) it depends on their internal rules. Usually they have fixed opening hours and times for drop-offs, e.g. synchronised with the days and times of their working bees.

Learn more about bokashi here: https://blog.sharewaste.com/why-you-want-to-need-the-bokashi-method/

Provide enough information

Be specific in your profile details and include items you accept as well as those you don't. Show the donor how composting works and how to manage compost

Meet with your donor

Meet every new donor in person for a friendly chat and to show them how composting works and how to do things right, remind them again what items to include and what not

Show the donor the end product

Make sure your donors know how you plan to use their scraps - this contributes immensely to their motivation and encourages them to treat your compost (or chickens) as their own

Have a management system in place If you have more donors and they drop-off their waste at their convenience, make sure they you've walked them through the whole process and they know what to do even if you're not there (leaving a laminated note with the basic few rules is a good idea).

Be helpful and supportive

Most donors start from scratch - that means that until now they had been throwing all their organic waste into garbage from where a waste truck would deliver it to landfill. Their decision to recycle organic waste is a significant change in their lifestyle, which comes with some new habits they need to get accustomed to. Be kind. Show them that you appreciate their efforts and that you are grateful for what they do.

Stay in touch with your donors

Be a kind and friendly person they can feel comfortable having a chat with. Share useful information. You will probably find that there is more you have in common than an interest in organic waste.

• The donor doesn’t have detailed enough information on what you can/cannot accept
• Another family member in their household throws in the wrong things
• You have several donors and you haven't been in much contact with them or have no management system in place

How to resolve this issue:

• Get in touch with your donor(s) - best to talk to them in person!
• Politely explain what happened, why it is harmful to your compost or what issues it’s causing
• Unless you already know the reason, try finding out why that happened (they didn't know, there was a friend visiting who didn't know etc.)
• Make sure the donor knows what to do better next time

If this is a reoccurring and upsetting issue, the utmost solution is to inform your donor that you will not accept any more donations from them. Your compost, your rules. Just please remember: no waste donor wants to do things intentionally wrong. There is usually a lack of information or relationship rapport that causes these troubles. It can be fixed.

How do I get in touch with a compost host?
Open the ShareWaste map (either in the app or at https://sharewaste.com/share-waste). The map should automatically center on your location but you can also use the address bar at the top if it doesn’t. Check to see if there are any markers on the map nearby. Click or tap on any marker to open the listing profile. There’s a “connect with me” button that opens a chat view. You can send a message to the host from here. Introduce yourself briefly and ask if it would be OK to donate your organic waste (it’s always good to mention how much waste you would be donating to make sure the host has enough space for it). When you send he message, the host will receive a message in ShareWaste, an email and (if they use the mobile app) a mobile notification.

• Tick notifications for new compost sites (on your notifications page: https://sharewaste.com/profile/notifications)
• Spread word about ShareWaste!

First, the compost host keeps several spare sealable containers at an accessible place. The donor simply swaps their full container for an empty one, which they then take home. It is up to the host, whether they ask the donors to empty their container into their compost or if they prefer to do this themselves.

Second, the donor delivers their waste in a container or a bag, which they leave at a designated place or which they give to their compost host in person at an arranged time.

In case of community gardens and other community places (council run compost hubs and similar) it depends on their internal rules. Usually they have fixed opening hours and times for drop-offs, e.g. synchronised with the days and times of their working bees.

Find a system that will make regular drop-offs easy. A walk or a bike/scooter ride to your host are preferred to driving a car (driving a two tonne car to drop off a bucket of waste would not be very environment-friendly). If you have to drive, make it a part of a bigger trip so the drop-off is not the primary reason why you have to get in your car. A walk with a dog, stroll with your children, on the way to/from school or work are all great opportunities to swing by your host with a fresh delivery.

Sealable container

A good way to store your scraps is a sealable container. Such a container gets emptied at every drop-off and can be reused over and over. Some hosts have a system where the donor brings their full container, leaves it on the porch or empties it directly in the compost bin and takes a spare empty one to take home, which the host keeps in an accessible spot.

A single use bag

Donors who don't deliver their waste in a reusable container may choose between (brown) paper bags and single use compostable bags. Brown bags are easy to compost but their major pitfall is that they don't last long and leak if the content is wet. Compostable bags can be used as long as they are truly compostable (not only biodegradable) and suitable for home composting (i.e., not just commercial composting). Always discuss with your host what is the best way to deliver your scraps in advance to find a suitable and convenient solution.

The key to success is to motivate and educate the staff to separate suitable organic waste for recycling. The best way to do so is by separating compostable items into sealable containers, which can be regularly collected by local community members (compost hosts) who will collect the waste and recycle it in their compost bins or feed it to their farm animals.

How to start:

• Talk to your staff before introducing any changes. Having the staff on your side is the first key to a successful positive change. Explain why they should care.
• Register your business on ShareWaste Spread the word on social media, let your customers know and promote it publicly in your cafe to attract waste receivers.
• Introduce a suitable separation, storage and pick-up system based on discussions with the interested compost hosts. We recommend a system of several sealable containers, which the donors can swap for empty ones. These containers can be kept at the back of the cafe or anywhere convenient in the shade to be easily accessible for the compost hosts or the staff.
• Adjust the system to the needs of particular compost hosts and add carbon material if possible (such as, shredded egg cartons, brown bags, shredded newspaper)
• Discuss the waste pick-up process with the compost hosts

How to attract and retain hosts:

• Be a good partner and make things easy for the compost hosts: offer a free waste delivery if they are happy to take larger amounts of waste.
• Become a place the host will always be happy to visit: why not make them a complimentary coffee when they come to collect a regular batch of food waste

Compost bin

In general, most people will accept fruit and veggie scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters, egg shells, spent grain, dry leaves, tissue paper, peanut shells, wood ashes, withered flowers, shredded newspaper or cardboard, shredded cardboard egg cartons, wood shavings, grass clippings, cotton pads and other items.

People won’t usually accept meat, dairy, bread and pasta, as these attract vermin and in some countries it may be prohibited by law to compost meat or processed food. Dog and cat droppings is also a no-no for most people (they may contain parasites or diseases). Most compost owners won’t accept glossy paper as it takes a long time to break down and might contain heavy metals. Some compost hosts also accept bokashi or other types of fermented waste.

Worm farm

In general, most worm farmers won’t accept citrus peels, onions and garlic (worms don’t like those). They also probably won’t accept dairy products, meat, bones or anything greasy. Worm food needs to be cut up so that the worms can easily process it.

Bokashi

Bokashi is a Japanese method of recycling organic waste by adding bacteria during an anaerobic process of fermentation. The final product of the bokashi method is fermented waste and bokashi juice. The juice can be used diluted as garden fertiliser whereas the waste should be buried underground, e.g. in an unused vegetable patch, or composted. The bokashi method is often used by apartment dwellers who collect their kitchen waste in a bokashi bucket. Many of them don't have an access to a garden a for that reason they contact compost hosts to find a place to dispose of their fermented waste. Bokashi waste can have quite strong sour odour but it is full of nutrients and many gardeners claim it breaks down faster in compost/soil than unprocessed food scraps. Some ShareWaste hosts accept bokashi and some don’t.
Learn more about bokashi here: https://blog.sharewaste.com/why-you-want-to-need-the-bokashi-method/

Chickens Most chicken keepers will be grateful for egg shells and vegetarian food scraps (not mouldy or decomposing), excluding: potatoes and potato peels, avocado and avocado peels, onion, garlic, citrus, rhubarb (all these items are poisonous for chickens!). Please always check the local legislation on feeding farm animals: in some countries it is illegal to feed meat by-products to chickens and other animals.

You can spread the word in your circles on social media. And/or you can become a sponsor and help us cover the costs of hosting and running the free app(s).

We always welcome professionals with these skills:
graphic design, UX design
editing and proofreading, content writing
social media
Are you good at something else and think you could help us improve ShareWaste, don't keep it to yourself.

• Useful example: I'm using the mobile app on Android 10 in Google Chrome and when I click on the orange “contact me” button, the site goes blank.
• Not-so-useful example: Hi, your app doesn’t work.