Georgestown Community Compost

Where: Kings Gate Condo, downtown St. John’s, NL. In their beautiful green area, which hosts the community garden created in partnership with Stella’s Circle.

Date: Ongoing

Project leader: Zero Waste Action Team, Social Justice Co-operative NL.

Project participants: Planeet Consulting, Stella’s Circle, Food First NL, and residents of Kings Gate Condo and Georgestown neighbourhood.

Project sponsors: Food First NL, City of St. John’s, the Multi-Material Stewardship Board (MMSB).  

Key Features: 

• Making it possible for neighbours to divert their organics in a city with no municipal composting infrastructure. 
• Hands-on and community-level all the way, from collection and processing of organics to the use of the compost.
• Compost Operator position paid through grants.
• Insulated, rodent- and odour-proof tumbler bins that produce compost in six weeks. 

Outcomes: 

• Organics diversion from 27  households, about 50 people.
• Finished compost for participants and Stella’s Circle community garden (over 1000 lb over a year) with almost no contamination!
• A Guide to Community Composting in NL.
• Volunteer opportunities for Stella’s Circle Green Teams.

What are we learning:

• Community composting allows to move from idea to action very quickly and has the potential to become a network of social enterprises.
• There’s a demand for composting sites. 
• There’s a need to figure out how to make the program sustainable in the long term.
• Existing challenges are related to land use, permitting processes, liability, lack of regulations, and negative public perception of composting.

Next Steps:

Let’s bring Community Composting to every community and neighbourhood in Newfoundland and Labrador! Click here to learn more about the NL Community Composting Network (a Co-operative in the making!).

Where to learn more:

• Community composting comes to St. John’s with plans to expand. From the Ground Up. CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. November 2021.
• Enterprise and Innovation in the Food System. St. John’s Food Assessment. Food First NL. Georgestown Community Composting as a Social Enterprise. April 2021.
• Planning for a City-wide Composting Program. Food Producers Forum. March 2021.
• What is Community Composting? Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
• Joracan bins. Learn more about the bins we’re using.