Seven-hundred households across the District have joined the fight to reduce food waste.

Home composting solutions flew off the shelves last week for Whakatāne District Council’s Subsidised Home Composting Scheme, which gave people the chance to purchase one of four home composting options for only $15.

Council Waste Management and Minimisation Coordinator Sheree Kearney said the composting solutions, which included worm farms, two sizes of compost bins and Bokashi benchtop units were in high demand.

“It was great to see so many people keen to take part and reduce their impact on our planet through home composting,” she said.

“Nationally, food waste makes up approximately 30 percent of what people put in their kerbside bins.

“Council was keen to support people with home composting units as it’s an easy to prevent food waste from entering landfill where it decomposes in the oxygen-starved environment and releases methane gas – a key contributor to climate change.

“We know some people were disappointed they missed out and we are hoping that there will be more stock available for us to source for the next time this scheme is run.”

This is the second time Council has run the Subsidised Home Composting Scheme since it was first introduced in 2019.

It uses waste-levy funding from the Ministry for the Environment to subsidise the composting units.