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MOSSEL BAY NEWS - In Mossel Bay 34 households are taking part in a home composting pilot project started by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) in June 2018.
The results are looking exciting if one considers the potential number of households that could be composting and preventing hundreds of tons of garbage unnecessarily going to the landfill site.
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Garden Route DM spokesperson Herman Pieters said this about the 34 households' composting efforts: "A total of 6 127,32kg (6,1 tons) of organic waste has been recorded and reported in Mossel Bay from June to December 2018 (seven months).
"Therefore an average of 25,75kg of organic waste per household per month is diverted from landfill." The pilot project is to last a year in total.
Pieters says: "The disposal fee for garbage at the landfill site is R255 per ton, so home composting indicates a direct saving. This disposal fee will be higher once the Garden Route Regional Waste Management Facility is operational in the near future."
Currently a site at PetroSA is being used.
Pieters said: "The pilot project requires all participants to record and report the weight of organic waste diverted. This data will be tabled at the individual municipal councils to motivate the further roll-out to other areas of the GRDM."
The pilot project will be implemented in George and Knysna municipalities next.
Increase in rates
Here in Mossel Bay the garbage collection rate was increased by 15% for the 2018/19 financial year. Municipal director of community services Elize Nel told the Mossel Bay Advertiser when contacted this week that the rates increases will be discussed in March and the increases for the 2019/20 financial year will be implemented as from July.
The steep increase of 15% was instituted by the municipality to make provision for the foreseen increase in rubbish disposal when the new landfill site is operational.
It is in all Mossel Bay residents' interests to keep their amount of garbage going to the landfill site to the minimum to help prevent high garbage collection rate increases in the future. Nel stressed the urgent need to recycle, reuse and compost as much as possible, saying it was not only about costs, but preserving our environment.
In Gouritzmond, 22 households started with the project in March 2018. The pilot project included only Mossel Bay and Gouritzmond.
Worm farm or bin
The households were provided with a worm farm or plastic, cone-shaped composting bin, depending on their requirements. The worm farm is a plastic box provided with some soil, shredded newspaper and a few red worms inside. It has holes at the base and fits within another box, so that the "tea" or urine from the worms can drip through to the box underneath.
There is a tap on the box underneath, which can be opened, so the worm tea can be used for the garden. It should be diluted, 20% tea to 80% water, and can then be used to water plants.
One can place all sorts of organic waste including vegetable and fruit peelings into the worm farm, but not citrus, garlic or onions, which the worms do not eat.
The plastic composting bin one places in the garden. Grass cuttings can be placed inside. They decompose into good compost. Also part of the project is the recording of organic matter placed on a normal compost heap.
Financial savings
Pieters said: "Home composting not only diverts organic waste from landfill, but results in financial savings (collection, transport and disposal costs as well as purchasing of compost), a reduction in the production of greenhouse gases and puts back the essential nutrients into the soil."
After notices were placed in local newspapers including the Mossel Bay Advertiser, asking for willing home composters to come forward, workshops on home composting were held with all participating households and each household was provided with a composting bin and or a worm farm, scales to weigh the organic matter and a file containing a home composting guideline and datasheets.
Each household weighs and writes down the weight of the organic waste composted on sheets provided and gives this data to the GRDM on a monthly basis. Pieters explained:
"The recording and reporting of data will be required for a period of one year after which the composting bin and or worm farm become the property of the participating household."
Pieters says 2 536,75kg (2,5 tons) of organic waste has been recorded and reported in Gouritzmond from March 2018 to December 2018 (10 months), meaning that an average of 11,53kg of organic waste per household per month is diverted from landfill.
'I enjoy it.'
Gideon Alberts of Seemeu Park in Mossel Bay, said: "I enjoy doing this. My tomato plants are six feet high because of the worm tea. I throw all my grass cuttings on a compost heap and if there is too much, I put it in the composting bin."
Marika Thomatos showed off her plants to the Mossel Bay Advertiser. There is a marked difference between the plants that are given the worm tea and those that are not. Those given the worm tea are dark green and larger than the others, which are a yellow-green colour.
Thomatos proudly showed off her worm farm, full of vegetable waste and cardboard. She has a compost heap and a composting bin too. Thomatos owns a bed and breakfast and everything possible from the bed and breakfast also gets composted. She showed off fine beetroot and tomatoes.
It was recommended to the Mossel Bay Advertiser by GRDM to contact Alberts and Thomatos.
'You're not too busy.'
Thomatos said: "I am so busy and on so many committees, yet I find time to do this. People should not say they are too busy. We should all be looking after the environment and reducing waste."
Thomatos says she keeps about 10kg per month from going to landfill through her home composting. "It does take time to weigh things now and record the amount of compost, but after the pilot project we will not have to weigh them."
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