YIMBY is a community-run backyard composting project based in Castlemaine, Victoria.

In its most simplest form, we are a locally based, neighbourhood composting system. We want to keep this resource local where it is needed and we want to avoid another big truck crawling through the streets and taking it away, but we do want to get it out of landfill where it creates nasty methane.

We know that our council will be required to introduce a third bin system in the near future, which on the face of it is more ‘sustainable’ than the current system where many kitchen scraps go to landfill. However, we are convinced that keeping it local and human scale will ultimately provide a better outcome.

YIMBY are a team of passionate composters who have come together to trial a small scale system that can be demonstrated to divert organic ‘waste’ from landfill.

A team of community composters collect food scraps from 10-20 of their immediate neighbours and turn it into high quality compost, to be used, shared, traded…..

To our knowledge there is no other program like this in Australia.

We are in the process of training 14 new composters to recruit another 140 new households.

How does YIMBY work?

• The YIMBY team attract and train composters
• Composters connect to neighbours and sign them up to become weekly organics contributors to their compost ‘hub’.
• Food scraps are collected weekly from non-composting households, data is entered to the central data base (weight of food organics and temperature of compost).
• The food waste is hot-composted to EPA standards in the yards of dedicated, trained and well-resourced (volunteer) composters, compost health is monitored remotely by YIMBY team by reviewing data.
• Composters are supported with regular check-ins and resources as needed.
• High-quality compost produced is used to grow food in backyards.

YIMBY (YES IN MY BACKYARD) HAS THREE PURPOSES: 

• To reduce methane emissions by diverting organics from landfill and using localised transport 
• To close the loop on (re)cycling food organics in our local community and to grow the availability of good soil, with compost. 
• To build community resilience by connecting people in neighbourhoods

YIMBY exists because we value community-led solutions to global problems and trust that, with support, communities are more adaptive and responsive when we work together.

YIMBY is a dedicated group of volunteers, and partially paid staff, supported by The Hub Foundation.

Building Community resilience through YIMBY climate action.

“Extensive research reveals that resilient and prepared communities are more likely to withstand the negative impacts of natural disasters and that strong social capital correlates to a more effective recovery.” (Australian Local Government Association 2022)

Our community composters, are community connectors, supporting our composters, which supports the wider community. 

What our composters say

Sometimes, when I’m feeling low, or just can’t decide what to do, I go to my compost, check how it’s going, check the temperature, stir it up, it’s a welcome break from all the other stuff going on, I never imagined when I agreed to be part of YIMBY that this would become my mental health time!

During the last floods, I was able to text everyone on my list, ask if they were OK, it felt so good, knowing we could reach out to each other’

When I was sick with COVID, my composter noticed I had not put my bucket out, they texted me, found out I was sick and subsequently offered to do some shopping and baked me a cake!

I’m sharing the produce of my very productive garden in my neighbourhood

I became a YIMBY composter to improve my soil, I didn’t realise how much more I would get from growing my connections in my street

I love seeing the (YIMBY) buckets lined up in the street on bin night, I feel warm inside, knowing that we are all working together to do good things

Find out more

Videos:

Gardening Australia: Yimby S36 Ep19

Short film: YIMBY’s story of community building

Podcasts:

City Compost Network Podcast Episode 9: YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) Compost Project

SBS Audio: YIMBY: Community composting for connection and climate action

Find out more at the YIMBY website

YIMBY is a project of The Hub Foundation, a not-for-profit based in Castlemaine with a long history of supporting local action on climate and empowering community-led action. 

Founders of The Hub Foundation Heather and Neil Barrett received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2021 for their contributions to environmental work and continue to be leading change makers in the Mount Alexander Shire.