One Boys Camp And So Much Food Waste. All Recycled On Our Land!

How we recycled food waste for a school boys camp

by Lucy Moray (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria)

I saw ShareWaste on Gardening Australia and thought it was a great idea, so I decided to sign up. I wasn't expecting a lot of donations because we live in a more country area where most people have land and compost their own waste.

And then Carly, a grammar school outdoor education teacher, reached out to me on ShareWaste saying that they had 100 boys on camp near our farm and if we would be able to recycle their food waste. She also wanted to know what food we could accept.

Carly reached out to me on ShareWaste saying that they had 100 boys on camp near our farm and if we would be able to recycle their food waste

We live on 2 acres and have an A&A worm farm waste system in place of a septic tank, so we can put all sorts of organic waste into it. The worms break it down and the castings get flushed through with the waste water from the house into underground irrigation pipes in the orchard so the trees get all the nutrients. Because the system is fully enclosed, the rats can't get in, so all food waste can go in.

Carly ended up bringing one and a half 60L containers of food waste! There was quite a lot of bulky waste (even untouched apples to our dismay) so we put it into wheelbarrows and also checked that no plastic had got in. I also pulled out some juicy bits to feed the chooks and then chopped it up with a spade to reduce the size.

Most of it went into the worm farm but I also filled up a compost bin with the rest and some other garden waste and shredded waste paper from my home office.

We live off grid for power, water and gas and love trying to keep a closed loop as much as possible-not letting water or nutrients leave our block if possible!

It was a great experience. Carly also promised to put pictures in their school newsletter and has passed on our info to other teachers who might be interested in doing the same thing.

We live off grid for power, water and gas and love trying to keep a closed loop as much as possible-not letting water or nutrients leave our block if possible! I'm looking forward to harvesting another load of compost when this is ready!

Thanks for developing this app! We've been thinking about getting in touch with the campsite owners to see if this might work for other school camps.

All pictures credit: Lucy Moray

Thank you Lucy for such an inspiring report and kudos to Carly for organising this!