[QLD] Brisbane City Council - Compost Rebate Program: up to $70 off Eligible Composting Equipment

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Brisbane City Council

• 

  Bluberry on 14/12/2021 - 14:38

  +1

  Thanks OP. Any good worm farm options? Would like to get one but no idea about pricing or where to start.

  • 

    Doy on 14/12/2021 - 14:44

    I’m not in the loop with wormies, sorry, have just done regular and bokashi composting. Calling all worm experts to help out!

    • 

      Bluberry on 14/12/2021 - 14:57

      Any good options for composting?

      • 

        Doy on 14/12/2021 - 15:26

        +4

        If it’s a very small amount and you want it to be as easy as possible, the bokashi method using something like the Urban Composter is very good. Essentially breaks it all down with the help of an ‘accelerator spray’ of microbes, and can eventually bury scraps or donate to community garden. Also creates ‘juice’ which comes out via a tap for a very potent fertiliser.

        For actual gardens, a tumbler compost with dual compartments seems like the go. Something like the Maze 160L Roto from Bunnings. Fill up a compartment and put in some ‘brown’ waste (dried leaves, cardboard, etc..), and with semi-regular turning and adding water every now and then (much easier with this tumbler style), it eventually turns into new soil you can repurpose. Can start filling up the other compartment while this process takes place.

      • 

        Chandler on 15/12/2021 - 13:22

        +1

        There's no right or wrong answer in my opinion. Really depends on your circumstances and how much work you want to put in.

        I've got a plain old bin (https://www.bunnings.com.au/tumbleweed-220l-gedye-compost-bi…). I tip scaps in, cover with shredded paper; turn every week or so. I've since got a second bin to allow the first (full) bin to finish breaking down without being constantly added to. (I've now got to figure out what to do with all my compost…)

        A tumbler like Doy suggested would save you the effort of turning, but you would lose the benefit of direct contact with the ground (the static bins are open on the bottom). With an open bottom bin, your local worms can come into your bin and help decompose the scraps, and they can also improve the quality of the soil beneath and around the bin with their castings. (and they do do this: while turning I've spotted worms in my compost!)

        Bokashi's are great if you have no backyard. As are your community garden groups (which we're a member of ours).

    • 

      cwc on 15/12/2021 - 22:08

      Bunnings tumbleweed worm cafe. Easy to use. Even I've kept it going for years.

  • 

    Wibbleman on 14/12/2021 - 16:35

    +2

    for worms we have a Subpod https://subpod.com.au/
    It’s great if you have room because it is below ground - so smell free and nutrients go into the surrounding soil.
    Not the cheapest but it’s my preferred method after trying regular compost bins and also killing some worms above ground.
    Haven’t needed to top it up with worms and can constantly see worms through the compost after 2 years.
    You can buy at their site or is also avalable now @bunnings priced competitively
    https://www.bunnings.com.au/subpod-108l-in-garden-compost-sy…
    The only challenge with worms is they like to get in the coir mat on top - so be prepared to replace that reasonably regularly ~3-6 months

    • 

      Bluberry on 14/12/2021 - 22:49

      This looks great, pity I cannot afford it.many thanks for the suggestion though.

  • 

    UndeclaredFreak on 14/12/2021 - 18:59

    Depends on your budget. The hungry bin is good, a bit pricey though.

  • 

    Tommyaka on 14/12/2021 - 22:25

    +2

    A month ago I bought the "maze worm farm" from Bunnings. From memory, it's Australian designed, made of recycled materials, and I think it's made locally.

    I went with the 1000 worms package. It's going great!

    Worms are very active, and I'm using both trays. The worms love going up and down.

    I leave my worm farm inside the house - there's no stink at all. I would leave them outside but.. You know.. Summer.

    • 

      UndeclaredFreak on 15/12/2021 - 00:00

      +1

      I used to have a worm farm inside when I lived in an apartment. No smell whatsover. That’s the measure of a healthy worm farm :) as soon as it smells, it’s a big sign something isn’t right and needs to be fixed.

• 

  chickentaste on 14/12/2021 - 15:25

  Can I get a rebate for my chickens?

  • 

    bio on 14/12/2021 - 15:39

    +10

    I believe that's called an egg.

    • 

      LongJohn92 on 14/12/2021 - 15:53

      +2

      But what came first? The rebate or the egg?

• Phoebus on 14/12/2021 - 16:17 Comment score below threshold.
  • 

    Doy on 14/12/2021 - 17:01

    +7

    I'll bite. You think it produces more GHG than sending it to landfill (not even mentioning benefits of enriching soil to grow food)?

    • 

      Phoebus on 14/12/2021 - 17:40

      -1

      of course it does. If you put it in the green bin the methane produced is burned to make electricity.

      • 

        Tommyaka on 14/12/2021 - 22:25

        +1

        Green bin doesn't accept food scraps, only garden waste…

    • 

      tonka on 14/12/2021 - 17:51

      -1

      If it's in landfill there's a chance it may become a carbon bank. Composting is by definition returning 100% to atmosphere. Need a solution where people can turn their green waste and grass cuttings into some kind of useful carbon bank ie chipboard, pavers for decking. etc.

      • 

        Chandler on 15/12/2021 - 13:27

        -1

        Composting is by definition returning 100% to atmosphere

        Composting is not converting your food scraps to GHG. It's actually breaking the scaps down into nutrient rich soil. Yes, there would (presumably) be some emissions in the process, but it would be nowhere near 100%.

        And I reckon it would be a lot less emissions than sending it to landfill, even if it is eventually stored in a "carbon bank".

        But hey, if you're that keen on "carbon banking" instead of composting your food scraps to "save some emissions', why don't you go bury your (profanity) in your yard and bank that too?

        • 

          tonka on 15/12/2021 - 17:31

          -1

          @Chandler: Why be rude? And gee, if you think carbon banks are bad I got no idea what to say to you.

  • 

    UndeclaredFreak on 14/12/2021 - 18:57

    +1

    Wow the ignorance is strong in this one.

    • 

      tonka on 14/12/2021 - 20:54

      It's true though. That's exactly what composting does. If you grow the food yourself you could argue a net effect. The advantage of composting has always been to reduce landfill not about carbon cycle..

      • 

        UndeclaredFreak on 14/12/2021 - 23:59

        +3

        There are many aspects to it. Landfill creates methane emissions whereas composting creates carbon emissions. Methane is worse than carbon. Yes it would be fantastic if all emissions could be reduced but in the meantime, any change is good. Also the collection and processing of the landfill creates extra emissions. On top of that, when people are more hands on with their waste rather than just tossing it in the bin, they because more conscious of the waste they are creating. Every single person I know (including myself) that now composts have dramatically reduced their waste just from being more conscious of it.

        • 

          tonka on 15/12/2021 - 09:36

          @UndeclaredFreak: I'm a big fan of sustainability and waste reduction. Overpackaging of our food, goods and even waste is the much bigger problem than food and garden scraps. I'd love to see a BCC initiative around that. The fact that I need to drop my cans and bottles off for recycling in single use plastic bags makes me crazy.

          • 

            NigelTufnel on 15/12/2021 - 11:46

            @tonka:

            The fact that I need to drop my cans and bottles off for recycling in single use plastic bags makes me crazy.

            Do you though?
            I've never used a plastic bag to drop mine off, take them there in a milk crate, carton or other resuable bags and drop them off.

            • 

              tonka on 15/12/2021 - 17:22

              @NigelTufnel: In my area they need to be bagged and dropped off labelled. That is the option available. And I just live in regular suburbia.

• 

  bargainhunter on 14/12/2021 - 16:42

  -6

  Landfill, as its name suggests is returning to the soil. No different to shunting it to some other community garden.

  • 

    Doy on 14/12/2021 - 16:49

    Uhh..

    You think that soil is being used to grow food again? Could you even call it soil when it's mixed in with god knows what other potentially toxic waste?

    And proper composting methods greatly reduce methane emissions compared to just dumping it in a heap.

    From BCC themselves:

    "Why compost?

    More than half of the average Brisbane rubbish bin is made up of kitchen and garden material that ultimately ends up in landfill. This material is a valuable resource which, through composting, can easily be converted to nutrient-rich ‘humus’ and used to improve soil quality. Putting kitchen scraps in the rubbish bin causes problems at landfill sites and is a waste of valuable organic resources."

    • 

      bargainhunter on 14/12/2021 - 17:28

      You think that soil is being used to grow food again? Could you even call it soil when it's mixed in with god knows what other potentially toxic waste?

      No and yes, though toxins shouldn’t go into landfill.

    • 

      tonka on 14/12/2021 - 17:57

      +1

      This is about saving money on the cost of landfill. The only way to offset carbon emissions is to remove carbon from the biosphere again. A carbon bank. If it's not allowed to decompose then landfill can be that carbon bank. Carbon out of the ground needs to equal carbon back under the ground. (Those coal and oil deposits started out as landfill, a natural process).

  • 

    UndeclaredFreak on 14/12/2021 - 19:03

    +1

    The process is completely different. Green waste going into landfill creates toxic soil and one of the worst contributors to greenhouse emissions.

    • 

      NigelTufnel on 14/12/2021 - 19:16

      +2

      I'm all for composting, but I don't understand the emotions argument.
      Emissions are from decomposition right? My understanding is landfills don't decompose things very well compared to compost. So surely composting creates more emissions?

      • 

        tonka on 14/12/2021 - 21:07

        Many years of groups hijacking 'global warming' as the poster child for their own agenda.

        Composting and recycling is about saving the cost of landfill and waste management, and in the past the profit margins from it as raw material

        Often the actual carbon cost of recycling is much higher than new manufacturing cost.

        Same when the Greenpeace sales guy wants to tell you saving old growth trees will stop global warming, when from a carbon perspective it's better to bank that old lethargic tree in timber and let some new hungrier ones grow.

        • 

          NigelTufnel on 14/12/2021 - 21:46

          @tonka: Not sure I agree on recycling being about saving costs. Recycling is generally much more expensive than landfill. That's why most of it just goes to landfill anyway. But we feel better putting it in the yellow bin.

          Also, cutting down an old growth tree releases most of its carbon. You only bank about 30% of it in the timber.. Take a while to make that back with saplings. Recycled paper as a environmental savior is a crock of crap.

          • 

            tonka on 15/12/2021 - 00:07

            @NigelTufnel: Saving the cost of the landfill. The other side is profit from the recycled materials. Not so much a thing now but very definitely used to be. I suspect the profit from deposit scheme is the new profit driver in recycling. And yes I have worked for 4 major recyclers.

        • 

          Chandler on 15/12/2021 - 13:57

          @tonka:

          Same when the Greenpeace sales guy wants to tell you saving old growth trees will stop global warming, when from a carbon perspective it's better to bank that old lethargic tree in timber and let some new hungrier ones grow.

          So kill the fully developed adults because the children are "hungrier"? Sorry, but a fully developed tree will consume more CO2 that one of these "hungry' yougin's, purely on the fact that it has more capacity for consumption.

          • 

            tonka on 15/12/2021 - 17:26

            @Chandler: We are talking carbon equation. Not whether it's right or wrong. And did you even research that or just assume. It' not about capacity for consumption it's about capacity for growth. Ie carbon storage.

      • 

        aquavires on 14/12/2021 - 23:18

        +1

        Yes, landfill doesn't decompose very well. This leads to anaerobic decomposition which emit lots of methane — a more potent form of emissions than carbon dioxide.

        In a good compost pile, you get aerobic (not anaerobic) decomposition, so you don't get methane emissions. Furthermore, unlike what @tonka wrote, composting definitely does not convert all carbon into CO2. Most of the carbon is stored as humates which fertilises the soil — it feeds plants and soil microbes. Landfill does not fertilise.

        • 

          tonka on 15/12/2021 - 00:55

          @aquavires: You can't really say that your carbon is feeding microbes and plants and that it's not subject to oxygen. Now bury your humates deep and don't feed them to your microbes and we'll talk.

          • 

            Chandler on 15/12/2021 - 13:59

            @tonka:

            You can't really say that your carbon is feeding microbes and plants and that it's not subject to oxygen. Now bury your humates deep and don't feed them to your microbes and we'll talk.

            But it is subject to oxygen. That's why you tumble/turn your compost - so that you continue to get aerobic decomposition. Burying them would make the process anerobic and thus produce methane.

            • 

              tonka on 15/12/2021 - 17:16

              @Chandler: You said does not convert all to CO2. It will eventually if being consumed by your microbes. The only carbon banked is removed from cycle. Methane can also be banked. Sure most landfill won't do this, but neither does compost.

              • 

                aquavires on 16/12/2021 - 23:09

                +1

                @tonka: @tonka: You use the word "cycle", yet you treat the carbon as a one-way chain that ends in CO2. You're forgetting that CO2 gets consumed by autotrophs to form organic compounds.

                Your "banking" plan of stopping compost depletes soil health, weakens biodiversity, and reduces the capacity of terrestrial carbon sinks. We don't need to lock away all carbon; we need a balanced carbon cycle.

                • 

                  tonka on 17/12/2021 - 17:57

                  @aquavires: Agree. My comments are applying increased value to reversing the currently imbalanced carbon equation. Compost is a resource that people should value. I am just challenging thoughts that it solves global warming. Compost is short to medium term a balanced equation. I lean towards chucking those kitchen scraps back in the open cut mines and sealing them back up, impractical as thay is.

              • 

                Chandler on 17/12/2021 - 09:05

                @tonka: Ok. Let's say it all gets converted to CO2, and neither compost nor landfill bank carbon or methane. Landfill generates more methane than composting due to the anerobic decomposition, and since it's not banking it it is emitting it. And so we come back to compost being better than landfill, which was the point in the first place.

        • 

          NigelTufnel on 15/12/2021 - 07:34

          @aquavires: Thanks. That's helpful. I figured you'd get the same emissions from either decomposition.

      • 

        UndeclaredFreak on 14/12/2021 - 23:53

        +3

        It’s more about the type of emissions it creates. The toxic environment that is created in landfill from large amounts of waste compressed and taking longer to break down ends up creating large methane emissions. Whereas composting creates carbon dioxide. Yes both are emissions, yes both are bad.,.but methane is far far worse.

        I also believe from my own waste disposable and that of friends and family…when we throw things away, we’re not as conscious about our waste. But when we are involved in the process (through things like composting, worm farms etc) and we are doing it ourselves and are hands on. You end up becoming far more conscious of the waste and end up reducing it, by quite a lot.

• 

  ruddiger7 on 14/12/2021 - 16:48

  How retrospective is this? I bought my worm farm at least a year ago

  Edit: looked it up, it applies to equipment bought on or after 1 July 2020.

  • 

    Doy on 14/12/2021 - 16:51

    I believe technically you're meant to complete the educational course before purchasing, but the T&C do seem to just say it has to have been purchased after 1 July 2020.

    It does say this in the FAQs, however: "Composting/worm farming equipment that is being claimed must have been purchased on or after 1 July 2020 and after the completion of the education questionnaire."

    Apply and give it a shot - if it gets denied, just buy a supplementary composting tool for your garden and get that rebated :)

    • 

      LowRange on 14/12/2021 - 18:47

      And use cash rewards, get 100% rebate and profit.

• 

  DukeNinja on 14/12/2021 - 19:33

  +1

  I got the 160L Maze as @Doy from Bunnings for $89. Got $70 from the council 10 days later.

  • 

    Bluberry on 14/12/2021 - 22:51

    Is it any good? I was looking at the same one.

    • 

      DukeNinja on 15/12/2021 - 08:11

      It's too early to comment on how successful it is, but my initial observations are that it's fiddly to put together, and may be to small for my needs (we live on a standard 400 m² block).

      Having said that, both compartments have been filled for the past week, and are feeling hot inside.

      • 

        NigelTufnel on 15/12/2021 - 08:48

        I gave up on my tumbler. Didn't seem to do a very good job at breaking things down. The standard compost do a much better job for me with the bugs and worms very busy composting all the time. Doesn't take up much more room either and you can fit a lot more.