It’s not everyone that’d voluntarily take a seat on top of a compost bin. But if you’ve ever felt so inclined, you now can as cafes across NSW are implementing an innovative “compost bench” in order to reduce food waste, lower costs and restore the natural carbon cycle. And you wouldn’t even know what you’re sitting on.
“In terms of pollution, the top countries are China and the US – and then comes food waste. It makes sense to try and end food waste, and there’s lots of ways to do this,” Michael Mobbs’ told The Fifth Estate.
Michael Mobbs’ Cool City Compost Bench project is the recipient of a $50,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, designed to support new and innovative food waste avoidance projects or activities that add value to existing programs.
Working with 10 cafés in Chippendale and Bathurst, the aim was to reduce food waste and cut costs in cafés by generating less waste and then composting the remainder in street benches outside to grow herbs and veggies.
By closing the loop between food waste and compost, the aim was to reconnect people with their streetscape in healthy, productive ways, and demonstrate how separating food waste can drive reductions and establish a blueprint for cafes and communities to follow.
“In terms of pollution, the top countries are China and the US – and then comes food waste. It makes sense to try and end food waste, and there’s lots of ways to do this.”
It’s a way to bring sustainable projects and regenerative practices to mainstream audiences and communities. And it’s been a success. Café Giulia in Chippendale apparently halved its food waste pickups. One bar has completely eliminated its food waste.
The bench doesn’t come cheap – at least not for a small business, anyway. At $2500 a pop, it’s not exactly a steal if you’re a struggling local café. But Mobbs assures us “it lasts for 20 years”.
“It’s a critical time for managing food waste and waste generally.”
The project aims to financially incentivise businesses to reduce waste.
“If cafés can save money by not throwing out food waste, there’s a financial incentive for them.
“Europe and Canada have financial incentives, but in Australia we don’t.
“We pay for gas, water, electricity per meter, but we don’t pay for waste in that way. Now that China is not taking our waste… it’s only now that Australia is being forced to deal with the issue of recycling waste. And with rising costs small businesses need all the help they can get.”
Another motivation for the compost seats is to counteract the controversial rise of waste-from-energy, which Mobbs is vehemently opposed to because he says it breaks the nutrient cycle.
“Burning food waste is really inefficient and creates a lot of pollution. It’s really naughty of the Sydney council to do it. Burning food waste destroys the natural cycle, erodes the soil, and makes us more dependent on agricultural fertilisers.”
To design the benches, Mobbs wanted to create a more “stylish” option to traditional compost bins, which he says are “generally associated with boring old farts who spend too much time in the garden”.
The final result is manufactured from local material by Bathurst maker John Fry – and doesn’t emit any bad smells of the sort you’d usually associate with rotting food waste.
“Burning food waste is really inefficient and creates a lot of pollution. It’s really naughty of the Sydney council to do it. Burning food waste destroys the natural cycle, erodes the soil, and makes us more dependent on agricultural fertilisers.”
The ultimate goal? He wants seats across the country, better financial incentives for businesses to reduce waste, and less council regulations and restrictions on where to put them.
The process for getting the EPA grant through the door doesn’t sound straightforward according to Mr Mobbs who said that pandemic lockdowns restricted his ability to gather the required data.
But now armed with the grant he aims to go into production to sell the seats and already has arrangements with more Sydney cafés as well as social housing in Brisbane and the Australian Capital University.
“It’s a critical time for managing food waste and waste generally.”
Seats of all wisdom and they don’t smell!
Looks quite like the Subpod worm waste system.