Get Stuffed goes Bokashi

Money was the decider.

Minka Firth
Journalist/Photographer
© Courtesy of Gulf News Waiheke Island 21 August 2008

Tired of spending so much time and effort disposing of rubbish on a daily basis, Get Stuffed caf owner Dennis Williams agreed to trial a local solution to the global problem of waste disposal.

Everything went into the red bags except for the plastic and paper recycling. I was taking a bag a day to the dump, now I only use one red bag a week. Thats a saving of six bags a week at $3.60 each ($21.60) plus disposal time and energy.

Approached by Bokashi co-ordinator Glenda Andrew-Neal, Get Stuffed was the first caf on the island to trial the composting system which feeds community gardens.

The staff and I discussed trialing it and we just love it. Its much easier now. The guy from the community garden picks up the waste, takes it away and returns the washed out buckets. Its another stress thats been taken away from my business because I dont have to try and fit in going down to the dump everyday, especially if its raining, says Dennis.

Traditionally on the island, all food scraps from food outlets are thrown into the council red bags, which are taken to the transfer station, shipped off island then driven to a landfill. Upon compacting with other rubbish this creates methane gas a component attributed to global warming.

This has inspired me and the staff to do it at home as well. Now native birds are coming and picking at the scraps so my garden has these lovely birds that werent there before. Its an initiative that everyone should follow. It saves my time, the scraps are going into a garden and not landfill so its environmentally friendly, and its saving me plenty of money.

Glenda agrees. With the price of fuel going up, restaurants will be spending more and more money to dispose of their food waste. This is a solution for them to recycle it cleanly, cheaply, and locally. The transfer station is not yet set-up for food waste. The idea is to have a community garden near a food outlet for minimal freight and handling requirements. It also creates a connection between business and community sectors.

Two community gardens and restaurants on Great Barrier are now using the system modelled by Waihekes Waste Resources Trust.
The Get Stuffed team have been recycling the food scraps for six months and Dennis says they'll never go back to the old system. No, never. This is perfect exactly the way it is.

For more information about the Bokashi system phone Glenda on 372 2915 or email glenda@wrt.org.nz.