SOUTH MELBOURNE MARKET IS HELPING YOUR GARDEN GROW THIS SPRING

Its organic waste diversion program - which has seen more than a 90 per cent reduction in waste volume at the Market - has spawned the production of two nutrient-rich, garden fertiliser products.

The fertilisers are being launched this month during the Market’s inaugural Sustainable September festival.

“As the Market’s owner, the City of Port Phillip is very passionate about sustainability,” says Mayor Bernadene Voss. “These exciting new organic products add to a suite of green initiatives we’ve been introducing to help us lighten our environmental footprint, creating a more sustainable Market today and for the next generation.

“Diverting our food waste from landfill significantly reduces both our greenhouse gas emissions and leachate which pollutes waterways. Every two tonnes of waste diverted from landfill has the same greenhouse gas reduction effect as taking a car off the road for a year”.

South Melbourne Market has taken significant steps to stop organic waste entering landfill through two processes: large-scale vermicomposting of green waste resulting in a specially formulated, organic garden fertiliser called Market Magic; and turning food waste into garden fertiliser known as South Melbourne Market SoilFood™ through a fermentation and dehydration process. “What is most exciting about this is that what was previously discarded as waste now has an environmental value”, says Operations Coordinator Adam Mehegan.

Over 150 tonnes of fruit and vegetable waste is collected twice a week and taken to a farm on the outskirts of Melbourne and fed to millions of worms, which turn our green waste into worm castings or vermicompost. This is a unique initiative and the first of its kind in scale and concept. The specially formulated blend of Market Magic vermicompost, made up of 25% worm castings and 75% organic mushroom compost, is a highly active biological mixture of minerals, bacteria and enzymes that are beneficial to plant growth.

In addition to vermicomposting, the Market’s food waste is collected daily and fed into the onsite 1200kg/day GaiaRecycle machine including items like coffee grounds; fish offal; food waste from restaurants, cafes, food hall and other food traders; bread; and high acidic products that can’t be vermicomposted like citrus, pineapples and onions. The whizz-bang machine heats the food waste, shreds it and activates a very fast fermentation and dehydration process, turning it into SoilFood™ in just nine hours.

“South Melbourne Market was the first retail market in Australia to adopt the technology for producing SoilFood™, they’ve been a real vanguard and are producing great results”, says General Manager of Eco Guardians David Berry. The product has similar properties to blood and bone and can be applied to vegetables, fruit trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns. The water collected from the process is also used for Market wash-down.

These organic waste recycling initiatives saw the Market pick up the Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA) award for ‘outstanding local government initiative in collection/processing/marketing’, which reflects high standards in organic recycling and positive contributions to the organics industry.

Keen gardeners can purchase both fertiliser products from the Market Office or nursery and florist traders. Market Magic retails for $15 for a 4 litre bucket and you can swap your empty bucket for a full one and get $2 off at the Market Office. South Melbourne Market SoilFood™ is $7.50 for a 2kg bag and fifty cents from the purchase of every product, both Market Magic and SoilFood™, will be donated to a local environmental charity.

The Market is located on the corner of Coventry and Cecil streets, South Melbourne. For more information see www.southmelbournemarket.com.au, Twitter @sthmelbmarket, Facebook @southmelbournemarket, Instagram @southmelbournemarket