Great news from across the ditch! Wellington City Council has included funding for a community-led, local-scale composting network in its Draft Long Term Plan for 2027-2037 with its Community composting hubs trial. This is a win worth celebrating, because it shows what’s possible when communities put a practical alternative on the table, and councils listen.

The project will build on and support the composting work already happening across the city, as the first stage of a city-wide local composting network. This means that households and businesses that can’t compost at home will have practical composting options close by, run at a scale where food scraps stay in the neighbourhood, and the benefits stay with the community.

After Wellington City Council deferred its city-wide kerbside organics collection on affordability grounds, Waste Free Welly put forward the proposal of a community-led alternative rather than letting composting fall off the agenda. Zero Waste Aotearoa shared the news in this short video (Facebook), which recaps the win and the groups behind it: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1151112034109961

Wellington already has the bones of such a network and the council’s community composting hubs trial will build on the work of organisations including Sustainability Trust, Kaibosh, Kaicycle Urban Farm and Composting, Tuatua Cafe, Mug.cycle, Friends of Owhiro Stream, Nonstop Solutions, FillGood and the Ōwhiro Bay Residents Association. Congratulations to all who have brought this initiative about!

The plan is still in draft, so there’s a role for everyone who cares about this to support it through consultation. If you’re in Wellington, have your say. And wherever you are, this is a story to share with your own council showing that community-led composting works, and it can be funded.