By Ernie Harbott

I knew I was going to love this documentary short film, but I had no idea how much I would love it. I love everything about this story. This is my story. It might even be your story. I feel his passion and determination and the sense that this is just supposed to happen. It’s bigger than mechanisation, bigger than dollars, bigger than bureaucracy. It’s community: microbial and people. It’s connection: passions and expertise. It’s composting: the stuff that’ll save us all. It has soul and it needs to live!

In “Ben & bEartha: A Community’s Compost Love Story” we follow the story of passionate composter Ben Bushell of Community Compost, Nelson. He recognised the problem was the solution – food organics going to landfill and his empty existence – and started composting. After a while, Ben realises he isn’t meeting the needs of his community or his goals. So Ben decides to take community composting to the next level. As the director and producer explain it: “Right now, governments are making decisions about the future of food waste. But the proposed solutions tend to be large-scale, centralised, and wasteful in themselves. So we’re passionate about empowering communities to provide these solutions instead. Solutions that value compost as a precious resource and create and strengthen social connections. Solutions that provide meaningful work and operate within a circular economy model.”

This film explores one such solution. It highlights the wide-ranging benefits of community composting in addressing food waste. If you’re not already a passionate composter, this film might surprise you into a new appreciation for rotting resources. If you are already enamoured, you will feel this film. You will nod along in agreement, laugh out loud and even cry. It’s another brilliant, beautiful, meaningful story presented by Happen Films who make short and feature-length documentaries about permaculture, resilience and sustainability.

You can watch the trailer and full film for free on YouTube or Visit Happen Films’ website.