Vol. 36, No. 30 - August 6, 2020 52 Ingestre Street, Whanganui - ‘NZ’s Most Beautiful City’. Phone 345 3666 or 345 3655, email
[email protected] Easy Earth - doing something good for the environment to go to Melbourne Zoo to BY DOUG DAVIDSON see one in operation. Ours Back in 2018 Derek and Sarah Pickering [- wanted to do something good for the envi- land.” ronment. Derek was then factory manager They had done their re- at Mars Petcare, which aimed to minimise search. There was no sim- the sending of waste to landfill. ilar service in the region whereby food waste and He had the skills and chased a HotRot in-vessel compostable packaging experience to launch composting system. It is a was collected and turned Easy Earth with the aim long cylinder machine that into compost. Once they of diverting food waste will turn the food waste start selling the compost (not green waste) from and compostable packag- to the public, they will not [ ing into compost within compete with the major compost. two weeks. operators. They received support Derek says, “The HotRot Easy Earth is currently from the Council’s Waste [ collecting food wastes Minimization Fund which Although they are made in from more than 50 loca- allows them to lease land Christchurch, I’m aware tions around Whanganui in Karoro Street and to of only one other in New and has recently expand- buy a tractor and truck. Zealand, composting dis- ed into South Taranaki. In April 2019, they pur- posable nappies. We had Derek explains, “The South Taranaki Council ƽ to cover the travel costs through their Waste Mini- misation Fund to help us set up.” In the mean- time a large commercial Co-owner of Easy Earth, Derek Pickering customer has contracted companies want to pay wastes and also because ƽ In Whanganui three ca- Easy Earth allowing for a for this service, Derek re- they believe in the cause.