We say our food waste collection ends in a harvest. This post explains what that means: where the food waste goes, how it turns into something that grows food, and why it matters that each step happens.
Step one: the caddy
It starts in the kitchen. Fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, bread, dairy, meat and bones, and food left on plates go into a kitchen caddy lined with a certified compostable liner (AS 4736). Packaging, plastic, glass and cans stay out. Keeping them out is what makes the next steps possible, because anything that cannot be composted has to be picked out later, or spoils the batch.
Step two: the bin and the collection
The caddy empties into a 120L bin out the back. We collect that bin every week, on a fixed day. Collection is what turns a kitchen habit into a system. Since June 2021 we have collected 89 tonnes of food waste from Hunter businesses, and the service now runs in Sydney as well.
Step three: composting
The food waste is composted. Composting is the controlled breakdown of food and other organic material by microbes, with air, moisture and time. What comes out the other end is a dark, crumbly material that feeds soil. The compost goes back into growing food.
Why compost rather than landfill? Food waste that is buried without air breaks down differently, and the nutrients in it are lost to the soil. Composting keeps those nutrients in use. It is the same reason a gardener keeps a compost bin.
This is also why we ask for certified compostable liners and a clear in and out list. A bin that is mostly food and a little plastic is a problem for everyone further down the line. A bin that is only food and compostable liners is easy to handle. The people who benefit most from a clean bin are the ones you will never meet, which is part of what makes it a shared effort.
Step four: the harvest
Compost is only useful if it gets used, and growing is where the loop closes. We do not run our own farm today. We did: Feedback Organic began on a farm in the Barrington Tops in 2013, then ran urban farms in Newcastle. Through the urban farms, we kept more than 2.5 million litres of food waste out of landfill, and the farms produced more than 45 tonnes of food, up to 2023.
Today partner farms like Pocket City Farms host farm visits, workshops and education. That is where people can see the growing end of the loop and ask questions of the people doing it.
Why we call it a loop
A line goes one way: food, then waste, then landfill. A loop comes back. The food waste from your kitchen becomes compost, the compost helps grow food, and the food ends up on a plate somewhere, which makes food waste again. You do not need to see all of it for it to be real, but it helps to know it is there.
It also means the kitchens that separate food waste are part of something shared. When a site sends its food waste into the loop, it is one of the loop, alongside every other site doing the same. We think that is worth saying out loud.
How to join in
If you run a site that produces food waste, you can start with one bin. See how our weekly food waste collection works, what it costs and what is in the starter kit. If you would rather see the growing end first, our workshops cover food waste, compost and growing, and you can read more about where we started on the about page.
Figures: 2.5 million litres and 45+ tonnes are from the farm era to 2023 (Feedback Organic Prospectus 2022 and 2023). 89 tonnes is food waste collected from Hunter businesses, June 2021 to August 2026.