The Economics of Groundswell

Hi folks
During the Groundswell project the very clever Michael Reynolds agricultural economist extraordinaire was busy pouring over our budgets and crunching the numbers. You can down load his report here:

The Economics of Groundswell

A new compost toy!

Things are highly mechanised at Condobolin now!

First Batch of Finished Compost!

Eugene and Cecil Coe with the finished compost


Press Release from Condobolin!


It's been an exciting time for the Wiradjuri Condobolin Coroporation. The first batch of compost produced from Condobolin’s City to Soil collection is finished and a sample has been sent off to an independent laboratory for testing.

Gerry Gillespie from the DECC said “The compost is looking really good. It is just lovely and the WCC have done a great job”

Eugene Coe from the WCC has been very pleased with the response from Condobolin residents “The community has really got behind the collection. We have had very low rates of contamination”

Acting Director Barrie Toms from the Lachlan Council praised the efforts of the community “It has been really great to see the support shown to the project from the Condobolin community. Council has received a lot of positive feedback. Residents really like the fact their food and garden waste is being diverted from landfill and being used to make a valuable product rather than being wasted.”

To emphasise the need to keep contamination out of the City to Soil collection, prizes are awarded each fortnight to three households who’s City to Soil bins only contain things that they should and nothing that they shouldn’t. The prizes are a $100 hamper of fresh fruit and vegetables and a range of environmentally friendly products. “People’s eyes really light up when they see the prizes” Mr Toms said. “ It’s great to reward people for doing the right thing, and it really brings home the idea that City to Soil is about compost and food production rather than waste.”

When asked what will happen with the compost now it is ready, Cecil Coe and Eugene said they were keen to start using the compost to grow fresh vegetables. "We would like to see how it goes in a market garden. It would be good to use the compost to grow fresh vegies for the Condobolin community”.

“Other options would be to bag up the compost to sell to residents, or to let it stockpile until there is enough to sell to a farmer in one large batch.”

Teacher Dennis Byrne from NSW TAFE is very pleased with how the trial has been going. “There is still a bit of testing to do to make sure our composting process breaks down any residual chemicals from people’s food or garden waste. We monitor the piles carefully for temperature and ph during the composting process. We are also testing for heavy metals and pathogens like salmonella or e-colli. The goal would be to produce a product that meets the Australian standards and is also eligible for organic certification.”

At the end of the day, the WCC needs to recoup the costs of processing the compost by either selling the product to farmers or the community or using it in either a market garden or nursery setting. Lisa Hibbert from the WCC said “It is early days yet, but everyone we talk to about the idea of a market garden thinks it is a great idea that would be great for Condobolin. Both Cecil and Eugene are qualified horticulturalists. With their great skills in this area, it could work really well.”

When asked what challenges they had had making the compost, Cecil mentioned that “Overall people are really good and only putting food scraps and garden waste in the bins. We have had some problems with a few households putting the wrong thing in but overall the response has been very good.”

“It is really important that the end product is something that people will want to use – and that means making sure there is no plastic or glass in the mix. Every piece of contamination put into the bins has to be pulled out by hand, so we really encourage residents to only put their food scraps and garden waste in the City to Soil bins.” said Gerry Gillespie

Audits undertaken in July last year show that 41.3% of materials in the general waste bins are organic and suitable for composting. A further 20% is paper, much of which is also suitable for composting. “The key to making the project sustainable is being able to get the organic material – the food scraps and garden waste out of the general waste bin and into the City to Soil bin. We need to see a quantifiable reduction in the amount of organic waste in people’s general waste bin to keep the project going in the long term.” said Mr Toms.

The introduction of City to Soil kitchen and garden waste collections in Lachlan, Goulburn Mulwaree, Palerang and Queanbeyan Council areas is being undertaken through a project known as Groundswell – which has been funded by a $1.96 million grant over three years from the NSW Environment Trust. The WCC has also received support from the Commonwealth government to build the composting shed at the landfill site.

More information can be found on the project blogsite: http://www.groundswellproject.blogspot.com/

As you can see, everyone is happy about the WCC's compost! And look how beautiful that shed is.

L-R: Michael Reynolds - Groundswell Economist, Eugene Coe - WCC, Cecil Coe - WCC, Dennis Byrne, TAFE Teacher, Simone Dilkara - Groundswell Project Manager

And just a little bit more.....

Just a few more photos from Condobolin - because the bins look so wonderful!

More from Condobolin

Here is a photo of Trumby picking through the City to Soil collection. You can see a plastic bottle in the middle of the mix - this was just about the only piece of contamination.

The collection was very very clean - just this bottle, a few cans, some polystyrene food trays and one bag of general rubbish. Well done Condobolin!

And at the end of a long day - here is Sonny and his very first pile of compost-to-be, all sprayed, sorted, covered and ready to start fermenting.

Condobolin gets behind City to Soil

Everyone we spoke to in Condobolin this week let us know how excited they were about the new City to Soil collection, and what perfect sense it makes to compost food and garden waste rather than sticking it into landfill. Everyone LOVES the new Biobags and MaxAir bins.

You can see from the photos how free of contamination the collections were.

It was a beautiful morning......

It was a beautiful morning......................all the bins were out.



What an amazing response from Condobolin townsfolk! And how beautiful those City to Soil bins looked.

Sonny, Willie, Trumby and Shae did an amazing job nursing the WCC City to SOil truck through its first day of collections.

City to Soil rolls out in Condobolin

After a stellar effort from EVERYONE at the WCC, Lachlan Shire Council and the rest of the project team, every household in Condobolin has received their City to Soil wheelie bins, MaxAir Kitchen Top Bins and their Biobags. And don't those City to Soil wheelie bins look FABULOUS!

City to Soil is underway! HOORAY!

The first City to Soil combined food scrap and garden waste collection is scheduled the week starting September the 22nd. The WCC boys are all ready to start composting. Its all happening folks.

It was lovely to get such positive feedback from people living in Condobolin. The overwhelming message is that people would much rather see their food scraps and garden waste going back into agriculture rather that WASTED in landfill.

Well done Condobolin!!!!! Lets see if you can beat Eastgrove with your even lower contamination rates!

Condobolin Composting Shed

The Condobolin Composting shed is almost finished thanks to the very hard work of all involved. And what a beautiful shed it is. The clever folks at the WCC hand made those bricks, and they are beautiful. The shed is airy and cool and beautifully made.

Here is a closer look at the inside. You can see the composting bays and where the truck will drive through. Funnily enough, all the boys moved out of the picture when the camera came out, but here is Nimmo - who has lead the WCC through the construction process. Well done Nimmo!

Condobolin - Composting Shed Underway

Exciting news from the Condobolin front. Work on what will obviously be the most beautiful composting shed in the world is well underway. Not just a shed, but a pressed earth brick shed - which will be beautiful to look at and cooler to work in. The clever folks at the WCC make the bricks from the local soil, and have already constructed a number of sheds and buildings using this technique.

And look at the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation's new truck!

City to Soil collections and composting will be done by the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation on the landfill site.

Its all happening folks!