If you want to hop on the compost train, but you live in an apartment and are not sure how to start, come along for this composting journey! It's Justine here, F&F team member and compost enthusiast. I live in Sydney in an apartment. Like everyone else, I like the convenience of being close to work, cafes, and other entertainment, but when it comes to things like composting, I felt a bit stuck on what to do with my Urban Composter once it filled up. Queue this life saving (or food saving) app, ShareWaste!
ShareWaste is an app that connects you with other people in your community to make composting possible for everyone. If you live in an apartment like me and don't have a garden or bigger compost, ShareWaste connects you with someone in your community that does. Read more about this awesome app and how you can use it.
The story behind the app
Tomáš & Eli, a young couple living in Sydney realised they didn't have space for a proper compost to put their food scraps and were faced with a massive dilemma — they couldn't fathom sending perfectly good food scraps to landfill!
This sparked an idea and with their collective skills, they built the ShareWaste app. I've had the pleasure of speaking to Eli and I'm not sure they know how much good they've done with this app, they are very humble. Personally, it's solved a massive waste issue for me and I've told just about every person I know about it. So a big thank you is in order to Tom & Eli.
How to sign up
Now that you know composting is possible for you (and everyone), it's time to download the app. The ShareWaste app is available on the App store for iPhones and Google Play store for Androids. If you're not super tech-savvy, you can head straight to the website to sign up.
First you need to choose if you have scraps and need someone to donate to or if you have a compost and are happy to start accepting scraps.
If you join as a donor, you'll be able to see everyone on a map that's close to you, that you can donate to.
If you join as a composter, you can list yourself on the map with details of what kind of scraps you accept. Don't worry your address will never be made public and it's up to you to give out this information.
Connecting with your community
Apart from finding a place to dump my compost once my bin is full, I've also met some really lovely people in my community!
I first met Megan who had a beautiful backyard garden about a 5 min drive from me. Naturally, we got to talking and realised we had a lot in common and shared similar values and goals to look after our environment. Megan was super appreciative of my 'donations' of compost, but I felt I wanted to give a bit more... She has two adorable dogs and we've now taken them on multiple walks around the nature reserve their house backs onto, just to say thanks!
I've also met John A. recently who has massive garden, bursting with organic produce, grown with the help of community compost donors — like me! To say thanks, John gave me two giant pumpkins and a bag of delicious passion fruit, lemons and limes! Yum!
I hope that this inspires you to start composting because it's really easier than you think and you can make some really wonderful connections with community members, and hey— you might get a bag full of delicious produce like me!
If you need some more information about composting, check out these blogs:
