Pacific families on the food scraps revolution: How to avoid maggots

Tomato crops are thriving in Reporoa, powered by what Aucklanders throw in their green bins.

The city's food scraps collection and a clever process called anaerobic digestion are helping to cut landfill waste, reduce emissions, and reuse organic material as energy and fertiliser.

Unknowingly fuelling this transformation are families in Auckland, like Tyra in Ōtara. Their food scraps – and those of thousands of Auckland households – are collected weekly and transported to Ecogas, a processing facility in Reporoa, in the Rotorua Lakes district.

Food scraps are broken down without oxygen to generate renewable energy, liquid fertiliser, and soon, carbon dioxide, which enhances glasshouse tomato growth.

Tyra, an Ōtara resident who declined to give her full name, says using the green bin is now second nature - and surprisingly effective for cutting down on food waste.

“Our food wastage was a lot at first, because you don’t take it into mind when you’re throwing it away, until you have to bag it. So it’s also helped us only cook enough for one or two meals,” Tyra says.

Her family of three adults, with children coming and going throughout the week, collects scraps in an old ice cream container and stores them in the freezer – a system that’s eliminated smell and pests.

“It stops odour and also the potential of maggots – ’cause I hate those with so much passion,” she says. “Honestly, freeze it. You won’t get maggots. Don’t put it in your green bin until the night before or early morning.”

Tyra says the slight habit shift has greatly impacted how their household manages rubbish. “Our rubbish bags don’t stink of rotten food anymore.”

Food scraps collected from Auckland homes, en route to be transformed into biogas and fertiliser through anaerobic digestion. Photo/PMN News/Mary Afemata

But Tyra acknowledges that sustainability often takes a back seat to survival for many Pacific households.

“It’s definitely comfort and convenience. Plus, when was the last time you saw our island families have someone sit down and explain where their food waste goes and also the benefits?

"I’m thinking of our friends who have nine kids under their roof ... and just trying to keep the house afloat – sustainability is very, very low on the list."

To support larger or busier households, Auckland Council allows residents to request a second green food scraps bin at no extra charge.

Households can contact the council or visit their bin request page online to request a free bin.

Banks, a Glen Innes resident who also declined to use her full name, shares a different motivation. For her, the appeal of the food scraps bin lies in what it turns into - not what it takes away.

“I love that it’s turned into fertiliser and renewable energy,” she says. “I use it religiously. Put it out every week.”

Her household of four adults and a child uses the bin consistently.

“Our red bin – for landfill – fits all our rubbish now because it’s not filled with food scraps anymore.”

But, Banks believes the slow uptake across Pacific communities has more to do with communication than with attitude.

Trucks carry Auckland’s food scraps to Reporoa, where they’re turned into energy, fertiliser, and CO₂ for glasshouse tomatoes. Photo/PMN News Mary Afemata

“Do you know how many years it takes to change our Pacific Island families’ mindsets on a lot of things? This is one of them,” she says.

“Plus, we benefit from visual understanding - in our own language.”

Fale Andrew Lesa, the only Samoan member on the Manurewa Local Board, says his family already has a way of dealing with food scraps that works well.

“We use ours for storage,” he says. “Because our food scraps go into our own gardens at home.”

Lesa says many residents would have preferred to opt in rather than have the system automatically rolled out.

Green bins like this one are helping Aucklanders cut down on food waste and landfill. Photo/Auckland Council

Lesa says most people either don’t have enough food scraps to justify the service or prefer to use them in their own gardens.

“For us, we didn’t want to use it, especially in the summer when it attracts flies. And the stench.”

So what happens to the scraps that are collected?

At the Ecogas facility in Reporoa, anaerobic digestion converts them into heat, energy and fertiliser.

Heat from the process powers a nearby five-hectare glasshouse that produces tomatoes, enough to heat around 2000 homes. Soon, the glasshouse will also get CO₂ from the food scraps to help the tomatoes grow even faster.

The remaining energy is fed into the national gas grid, and what’s left becomes “JAFA juice” – liquid fertiliser used by farmers in the region to replace synthetic products.

Auckland Council General Manager of Waste Solutions Justine Haves says it's more than just reducing landfill costs.

“Sending waste to landfill is the most expensive way to dispose of a community’s waste from an environmental perspective,” she says.

“The more waste we have going to landfill, the more harmful emissions we have and the more landfill capacity we need, which comes at a significant cost to communities.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.