Open to residents in Newtown, Te Aro and Berhampore

Don’t waste it!

For $22.50/month, you can drop off your households’ food scraps at one of our three compost hubs around Pōneke - and we’ll turn it into beautiful biodiverse compost that is full of microbes and mauri!
**Newtown** - *lots of space available*
**Berhampore** *- limited space available*
**Te Aro** *- limited space available*
**Kilbirnie** *- coming soon - join the waitlist* *here*

How it works

Use a sealed container of your choice to collect your households’ food scraps during the week
Take it to your local compost hub at least once a week to keep things fresh (open 24/7)
Unlock the wheelie bin (using the code you’ll receive at sign-up)
Drop your scraps in and add a scoop of the provided coffee chaff to absorb excess moisture
Wash your container at home or on site (running water available at the Newtown & Berhampore hubs)

Note: if washing your own container is not an option for you (e.g. due to disability or access needs), let us know so we can make other arrangements. For those using the Te Aro hub, we offer a bucket swap system since there is no access to running water. Thank you for helping us be plastic free by avoiding single use plastic liners.

What we accept

Click here to see what we do and don’t accept. We work hard to prevent plastics, chemicals and other nasties from entering our soils and ecosystems. Please help us create high quality compost by following the guidelines and get in touch if you’re unsure.

How to sign up

Click the button below or email us at compost@kaicycle.org.nz with your full name, address, phone number and start date.

If your local hub is already full, or if there isn’t a hub in your area, you can join our waitlist here. We’re planning on expanding our drop-off network in the future - get in touch if you would like to see a hub in your neighbourhood.

Why Kaicycle?

We operate a professional composting service at Kaicycle, which means we don’t operate quite like other community gardens that are powered by volunteers. We pay the Living Wage to our cyclists and composters for their mahi to:

Collect your food scraps weekly by e-bike & trailer - transporting them from the hub to our urban farm
Clean out the buckets, tubs and wheelie bins, and reset them so they’re fresh each week
Process the food scraps by hand - removing fruit stickers and non-compostable items, and preparing the compost piles with sufficient amounts of mulch, coffee chaff and beneficial anaerobic microbes
Monitor and tend to our 30 compost piles over 4 to 6 months - turning them and ensuring ideal conditions for microbial activity (e.g. temperature, moisture, air flow) and pest-proofing
Mature the compost for another 2 months - increasing activity from worms, invertebrates and fungi
Donate our matured & living compost to marae, community gardens, schools and kindies, or use it on our own farm to grow kai that we also donate
Host free events, workshops and volunteer sessions to share our knowledge and build community
Improve our infrastructure and processes to keep producing the best compost that regenerates soils, grows healthy kai and nourishes our communities.

Please let us know if price is a barrier for you, as we offer a discount for Community Service Card holders.
If you’re not in a position to pay at the moment but still want to put your scraps to good use - there are other community gardens that welcome food scrap donations for free - like Innermost Gardens & Hataitai Men’s Shed.

As a subscriber, you also get a 20% discount when buying our compost - find out more here.