International Compost Awareness Week 2019
By Virginia Brunton, MRA Consulting Group
The International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is well underway (5-11 May 2019) and represents a great opportunity for joining compost related workshops, seminars and activities. Abroad and in Australia, the compost industry and enthusiasts rev up the efforts to increase awareness of the importance of compost and to promote the use of compost and related products.
ICAW is celebrated every year during the first full week of May. It was started in 1995 in Canada and has continued to grow as more people, businesses, councils, schools and organisations are recognising the importance of landfill avoidance, composting and the long-term benefits from organics recycling- including healthier soils.
Compost, does great things for soil and organic waste recovery and is a perfect example of the circular economy in action. Rich in organic matter, composts feed soil microbes to create a healthy thriving soil that delivers healthy food. Farmers have been doing this for centuries and now urban households can contribute either through a garden compost bin or through dedicated, council provided, kerbside FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bins.
In NSW, MRA has a number of EPA supported projects all designed to build awareness and use of composts made from household food and garden waste:
Two are working with farmers. One is using compost that has been pelletised to enable it to be dropped down the seeder along with the wheat seed while the other is looking into how compost can help increase soil water. A third project is aiming to demonstrate the benefits of using compost as horse bedding .
Where residents are fortunate to have a good garden organics collection service they are directly contributing to projects like these, towards healthy soils and a true circular economy.
We invite anyone interested in these projects to contact Virginia at virginia@mraconsulting.com.au and we encourage everyone to participate in events and initiatives happening in their area on the occasion of ICAW. For a list of ICAW event close to you, visit the International Compost Awareness Week Australia calendar.
As always, we welcome your feedback on this, or any other topic on ‘The Tipping Point’.
