Pānui Hune |
June Newsletter

I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho

A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions

Kia ora koutou,

Every year, thousands of tonnes of food waste are still being sent to landfill in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, creating methane emissions and wasting valuable resources that could instead regenerate soil and nourish communities. While Wellington City Council has committed to ambitious waste minimisation and climate goals, recent decisions have effectively paused progress on large-scale organics solutions. 

In response, Waste Free Welly, alongside Kaicycle and other community organisations, has called for a different path forward: one that builds on the grassroots systems already working across the city. Kaicycle is proposing a practical, community-powered model that expands local compost hubs, food scrap drop-off points, e-bike collections, and neighbourhood-scale composting infrastructure across Wellington. We can start reducing waste now, strengthen local resilience, support climate action, and keep growing local futures, suburb by suburb. 

We know the best ideas often come from the community itself. So, we want to hear your thoughts, ideas, and local knowledge about how Kaicycle could expand our composting network across Pōneke. Whether it’s hosting a drop-off point, identifying local partners, volunteering, or sharing practical ideas for your neighbourhood, we want to hear from you. 

Please share your thoughts in this 10 question survey.

Together we can build a living compost network for every suburb.

Ngā mihi maioha,
The Kaicycle team

Community Open Day Hune / June

Join us for our community open day in June! This year we’ve decided to keep our community open days going through the winter as we’ve had so much interest, which is awesome! Come along for as much or as little of the day as you want. 

• 9.30am-12pm - Working bee - do some mahi in the garden - could be weeding, planting, sowing seeds, sifting compost or more, depending on what the māra needs at that time! Register and find out more here.

• 12.30pm-1pm Lunch - BYO picnic lunch to eat or some kai to share! 

• 1pm-1.30pm - Farm tour - If you haven't been to our urban farm before, this is a great opportunity to find out what we're all about and how our farm and community composting works.

• 1.30pm-3pm - Grow Your Own Herbs Workshop - details below

MAHI AROHA | VOLUNTEER

This month we wanted to highlight one of our amazing, and longstanding farm volunteers Megan. Megan has contributed so much time and energy to our project over the last couple of years and we are very lucky to have her as part of our community. We asked her a few questions about why she chooses to volunteer with us.

How long have you been volunteering at Kaicycle?

I started volunteering shortly after I signed up for the weekly composting service. As I was researching the food waste drop-off program I noted the weekly volunteering spots and signed up on a whim. That was just over two years ago. 

What is your favourite thing about volunteering at Kaicycle?

I was initially drawn in by the desire to work in the garden as we were in a place without much green space. Even though I now have access to my own garden, I continue to volunteer both because I believe in the mission and the message of Kaicycle and because the community of staff and volunteers comprises a wonderful group of people. 

If you were a vegetable what would it be and why?

Maybe Brussels sprouts? (the internet tells me that it's meant to be capitalised so I am sticking to that) Not for everyone and likes to be a little cold.

MAHI WAIRĀKAU | COMPOSTING

Composting in Winter

Have you wondered if the cold winter months might slow down your composting? It can, but it doesn’t necessarily have to - it’s all about ensuring nothing gets too out of balance. Excess moisture from rain can be the main culprit, so you might want to ensure your compost can be protected from downpours.

This time last year at Kaicycle, we had a fair bit of trouble with keeping our compost happy, mainly because it was very wet and there was very little wind. Our cyclists had to brave quite a few rainy collection days, so the food scraps (and our mulch carbon supply) got very wet too. This meant the compost started out too moist, and without much wind or warm weather, it couldn’t get enough airflow to heat up and dry out. By contrast, this May has seen very little rain. It hasn’t been particularly windy either, but without that excess moisture the compost has been pumping - we recorded a temperature of 73 degrees just the other day (which is too hot)!!!! This tells us that colder temperatures don’t have to slow down the natural composting process, as long as you’ve got your greens, browns, moisture and air in balance.

Keep a close eye on any heavy downpours in the forecast this winter. If you’re worried about slow and smelly compost, then make sure you have a solid lid or way of covering your heap from the rain. Just don’t leave any heavy waterproof cover (like tarp) on top for too long, or you might suffocate the beneficial microbes!

FREE Inoculant to Supercharge Your Compost

Thanks to everyone who came along to the composting workshop in May run by Liam and Alex as part of the Pōneke Climate Festival & Compost Awareness Week. We learnt about the benefits and science of composting, and how different methods impact the amount of emissions released/captured. We also built a static aerobic pile and brewed some compost inoculant - of which we have heaps to go around for our community! :-) 

Feel free to come to the farm at any time (it's open to the public 24/7, but this will be less messy to do while it’s light!) and scoop some into a jar to supercharge your home compost pile with beneficial microbes, speed up the process & create higher quality compost for your māra. It smells delicious - like kombucha! It’s completely harmless if it touches your skin but we recommend washing your hands at the sink afterwards, just to be safe. Dilute with water up to 10:1 before applying to your own compost pile at home using a spray bottle - every time you add fresh food scraps and/or when you're giving your pile a thorough mix (every few months). Check out the instructions on how to find the inoculant below. 

If you want to buy some of Kaicycle’s premium living compost, you can order some for collection from the māra here.

ĒTAHI KAWE PŪRONGO | OTHER NEWS

Gene Technology Bill - contact your MP now

There is still time to have your say on the Gene Technology Bill as coalition parties negotiate its final form. We can still make our voices loud and clear that we want to keep Aotearoa GMO free. Papawhakaritorito Trust make it super easy for you to contact your local MP directly.

If you’d like to learn more about trans identities, there’s a useful ‘Trans 101’ video here, and Newtown based organisation Gender Minorities Aotearoa have a FREE course on understanding trans experiences and how to be a good ally here. 

Save Smart Newtown 

Kaicycle is one of many organisations and people in the community that use Smart Newtown, the computer hub based out of the Newtown Community Centre. We do our printing and laminating there and pop in to use the computers every now and then! Every time we’re there we see that they’re helping people with computer and tech issues - something that other community services don’t have capacity for. Smart Newtown also run free classes for the community. Under the current WCC budget, funding for this service will be cut. Email councillors@wcc.govt.nz if you have a story about the importance of Smart Newtown and follow Newtown Community Centre for updates.

We need your support to continue our climate justice mahi & vision to regenerate Wellington!

Ways you can support us:

• Make a one-off or monthly donation

• Buy our organic veggies or our biologically active compost

• Sign up your office in Wellington to our weekly food scrap collection service

• Bequest a parting gift to Kaicycle in your will or trust (see Go With Grace for support)

• Sponsor one of our programmes - get in touch to explore this!

Kaicycle is a registered New Zealand charity (CC58759) which means your donation is eligible for claiming 1/3rd of the value through tax credits.