SEASONAL SNAPSHOT
RECYCLE, REUSE and reduce your waste WORDS LAHNEE PAVLOVICH PHOTOS PABLO PAVLOVICH
DID YOU KNOW that the average Australian family throws out about $73 per week, or $3805 per year, worth of food? Crazy right? That means not only are we wasting our food, we are wasting our money and we are contributing to a growing problem which affects our beautiful environment on the Sunshine Coast. The good news is there are some relatively easy solutions we can all practise at home. First up, we can learn how to recycle better, and part of this is recycling our food scraps. Yep, I’m talking about compost. By learning how to create a simple compost, we are enabling food waste to be reused and recycled back into the soil as fertiliser. We are creating an at-home sustainable food system that encourages the re-purposing of food waste because the funky black crumbly material created by our compost, called humus, is full of nutrients that give back to our gardens, flower beds and even our pot plants. We are doing our part for the environment too because composting can divert as much as 30 per cent of household waste away from the wheelie bin. 56
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So how do you make your own compost? Here are a few simple, helpful tips. 1. Make sure you put the right stuff in your compost. This means no animal fats, processed foods, dog or cat litter or sanitary items. The best things to compost include vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, plant prunings and grass cuttings. It’s good to include some slow-rotting materials such as cardboard egg cartons and crushed egg shells to provide vital fibre to the mix. Also remember that plastics, glass and metals are not suitable for composting and should be recycled separately. 2. Aim for about 60 per cent carbon-rich matter (the brown stuff), like branches, stems, dried leaves, peels, bits of wood, bark dust or sawdust pellets, shredded brown paper bags, egg shells, straw and wood ash. And about 30 per cent nitrogenrich material (the green stuff) like manures, food scraps, green lawn clippings and green leaves.
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4/03/2019 2:15:22 PM
