Composting:

INFORMATION

About Composting

“Approximately 50% of the rubbish Australians put in the everyday mixed-waste ‘garbage bin’ could be put to better use in the garden as compost and mulch or could be returned to agricultural land to improve soil quality. Based on 25 Council audits conducted by EC Sustainable in 2011, around 33% of the rubbish is food organics (including peelings) and about 10% is garden vegetation.

Alarmingly, such a huge amount of organically-active material buried ‘anaerobically’ (without air) in landfills causes over 3% of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions annually through the production of methane gas (which has 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide).” 
International Compost Awareness Week

• Fact Sheet: Get Composting – Costa Georgiadis
  how to … set up a generic cone-shaped compost bin.
• Composting Guru – from Planet Natural Research Centre – Answers & Advice for Organic Gardeners
  Our comprehensive guide makes it easy to start producing nature’s perfect soil amendment.

VIDEOS

• HoboGro’s own videos (more coming soon)
  Bob from Hobo Gro talking about the composting process & what we do at Hobo Gro
• Hobo Gro – Academy Awards of Composting
  Hobo Gro’s Entry Video to the Academy Awards of Composting with dirtgirlworld & Costa Georgiadis

• What’s the deal with composting? with Costa Georgiadis
  Composting is about more than kitchen scraps and garden food. It’s about connecting with life as we know it.
• Dirty secrets of healthy soil | Peter Rutherford | TEDxPittwater
  Everything we eat comes from soil! What is it? What is healthy soil?
• The First Steps to Composting – with Costa Georgiadis
  Once you have the right ingredients, composting is simply a matter of knowing how to get started.
• Costa’s Guide to Household Composting (short tutorial)
• Lord of the bins – DIY compost (Part 1) – Sustainable Gardening Australia Footprint Flicks
• The Perfect Compost Recipe – How to Get Your Compost Heap Cooking! (GrowVeg)
• How Composting Works at The Green Centre
  The Home Team (Network 10 Australia) visits The Green Centre in Melbourne.
• BONUS VIDEO: Earthpower – Australia’s First Food Waste to Energy Plant

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Worm Farms:

INFORMATION

Start a worm farm – Australian Gov. Energy Savings
“A worm farm is a fantastic way to minimise food waste by turning your organic kitchen waste into nutrient-rich fertiliser for your plants and soils.

Worms eat organic waste and turn it into liquid fertiliser and worm castings (the organic material that has been digested by the worms). Both of these products can be used on your garden and on your pot plants to keep them thriving.”

• Fact Sheet: Building a Worm Farm – Jane Edmanson from ABC Gardening Australia
• A Beginner’s Guide to Worm Farming (pdf)
• What Worm Farm Is Best For You? – from Good Life Permaculture
  “…So what type of worm farm should you have? It all depends, where do you live, i.e. apartment or farm, do you have a big or small garden, do you have lots or only a small amount of of food scraps coming out of your kitchen?…”

VIDEOS

• Worm Farms with Peter Rutherford (One of Australia’s premier leaders in the field)
  Home Lifestyle TV with Channel 9
• Peter Rutherford and Costa talking about worm farming – ABC Gardening Australia
• How to be a good parent to your worms – Sustainable Gardening Australia Footprint Flicks
• How to Set Up a Home Made Worm Farm! – by Mitchy
• Maintaining your wormfarm – The Productive Garden
  “Feeding, keeping the wormfarm damp and draining excess liquid are all important… to keep your worms happy and healthy…”
• Separating and harvesting worms and worm castings. Separating worm egg cocoons. – Matthew WormsEtc
• How to build a bathtub worm farm from recycled materials… – Rob Bob’s Backyard Farming & Aquaponics
  “…very cheap Bathtub Worm Farm out of recycled items & a bathtub we sourced originally from freecycle.org”
• This Tasty Treat Will Drive Your Worms Crazy! Makes Harvesting Them Easy! – by Larry Hall

• GreenShortz DIY (US based) have an excellent collection of videos on the subject.
  Here’s some:
• How To Start Worm Composting [Simple & Cheap]
• How To Make A DIY 5-Gallon Bucket Worm Tower

• NWRedworms are another good Youtube channel with a real homemade aesthetic (US based)
  How to harvest redworms on a large scale

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Black soldier flies (BSF):

INFORMATION

Black Soldier Fly Farming (Home Page)
“The BSF larvae will eat kilograms of scrap food a night in small composting units, eliminating your food waste before it can even begin to rot.Nature’s own ultimate food recyclers, BSF have proven to be a great summertime composting solution.

Black Soldier Fly larvae do more than just eat waste.
When they are done eating your food waste, they will harvest themselves into buckets and let you feed them to your chooks, pigs, ducks, birds and fish. You name it. High in protein and fat they could become a main ingredient in future animal feeds.”

On average a household will produce a little under a kg of food waste per day. This food waste can be composted at home using black soldier fly larvae much much faster than worms can do it.”
Black Soldier Fly Farming Youtube Channel

Fly farming: How it could feed the world | Time.com
“…One female Black Soldier Fly, the breed of choice for AgriProtein, lays about 1,500 eggs. One kilogram of fly eggs produces 380 kilograms of larval protein in just three days…”

VIDEOS

• Some short tutorial videos from GreenShortz DIY
  How To Make A DIY Soldier Fly Larvae Composting Bin
• How To Operate A DIY Black Soldier Fly Larvae Composter
• How To Raise Soldier Fly Larvae In Freezing Temperatures

• Good collection of Youtube videos from NWRedworms
  How to grow black soldier fly larvae (BSFL)
• Black soldier fly stage 2. The pupation bin

• Black Soldier Fly Production with Karl Warkomski – Series by Living Web Farms

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Upcycling:

INFORMATION

What is Upcycling, Anyway?

“Upcycling is the process of turning waste, often of the sort that is usually considered “unrecyclable”, into something that is useful or of value…”

“…What Makes For Good Upcycling?

Upcycling serves many purposes, and one of those is to improve the state of the environment. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Longevity – how long will the upcycled item be kept out of the waste stream?
• Replacement – will the upcycled materials replace the use of new materials?
• Education – does the upcycled work make a point that will encourage us to change our wasteful ways?
• Utility – is the upcycled item useful? Does it fulfil a genuine need?
• Recyclability and reusability – can the upcycled item be recycled or further upcycled when it is no longer needed in its current form?
• Volume – does the upcycling activity put a significant dent in the volume of waste stream that it comes from?

It may be difficult for any one example of upcycling to tick all these boxes but we don’t have to look too far to find highly imaginative examples of good upcycling.”
from CMA ecocycle

UPCYCLING INFORGRAPHICS, ala HIPCYCLE
“…explaining recycling vs. upcycling with these handy dandy infographics.  Pin, Share, Like, Repeat!

Reverse Garbage at the Addison Road Community Centre
Reusing tonnes & Reuse workshops –  “Each year Reverse Garbage collects tonnes of valuable resources including reusable off-cuts, over-runs, art & craft materials, stage props, knic-knacks, furniture and other items from hundreds of supporting commercial and industrial businesses, as well as through the generosity of the community…” 

Upcycled Woders – Give your old things new life!
Upcycling Projects for Garden, Clothes, Furniture, Crafts & Art.

Upcycle That – Upcycling Ideas and Inspiration

5 Fun Upcycling Projects That Are Perfect to Make With Kids! – by One Green Planet

Ideas on upcycling from the SA Government!

Wikipedia Article on Upcycling

VIDEOS
1000 easy Upcycling / Recycling Ideas – Youtube channel with hundreds of instructionable videos

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