COMMUNITY garden Hilton Harvest has come up with a new way to try and reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill—it’s taking its neighbours’ compost.

Recently the harvesters got a grant from the WA Waste Authority to set up nine composting bins.

Harvest member Amy Warne says they’ve already got The Local cafe taking part, with owner Brett Claughton hauling a 240-litre bin up the road after a busy weekend’s trade.

Ms Warne says she’s been really impressed by participants who’ve done a great job making sure there’s no plastic nasties in the mix.

• Khesan Starr and Lanessa Hart add some compost to Hilton Harvest’s bins, helped by Sula Wray, Sasha Wray, Quincey Peck, Adam Peck and Morgan Wray.

Carbon capture

She says currently there’s only enough compost to service the 18 plot-holders and the communal gardens at the site, but they are hoping in the future to step up production so they can sell it.

“There’s plenty of waste to go around,” she says.

Ms Warne says making the compost is a crucial way to capture carbon in the soils, helping combat global warming.

“And it’s really important for the soil; globally soils used to be 20 per cent organic material, but that’s now down to 3 or 4 per cent, and in Australia it’s just 1 per cent.”