Sue Wilkinson, the Practical Resource Co-ordinator at the nearby Linwood Resource Centre, is delighted with the extra land for community gardens. Their centre was involved in the trial. It worked really well. About 20 people brought their scraps in weekly and later took away the compost. At present the centre is receiving about 12 to 13 buckets of scraps a week to compost for its community garden.
People working in the gardens have first pick of the vegetables.
Sue says the aim of the garden is to help people become more self sufficient within themselves, foster community spirit and pass on knowledge and information to each other. The Council's Waste Unit began working with them to help reduce the amount of organic waste sent to the landfill. Kitchen and garden waste currently makes up almost half the waste currently collected in black Council rubbish bags and 65 per cent of waste in wheelie bins and 44 gallon drums. Solid Waste Engineer Eric Park says disposal of organic waste in landfills causes problems because it breaks down and creates leachate and gas. Diverting the waste through these projects is just one of the ways we can all make a real difference to help the environment.