Since the Kensington Town Hall Compost Hub reopened to community composters in December 2020 (with a low-contact COVIDSafe plan in place), we have been running a monitoring process to assess the composting conditions, inputs and to support the development of optimal management processes.
The key indicators being captured are:
- Composting method applied
- Material input volumes
- Input types or visible contaminants
- Biological activity observations
- Pile moisture level
- Pile temperature
- Ambient air temperature
- Finished output volumes
From these stats we are able to derive a general sense around the patterns of use by the community and the impacts being generated.
Average batch turnaround (to date): 72 days
Average sampling frequency: 6 days
The ongoing data stream and collated results are supplied to the Kensington Compost Group Management Committee and the City of Melbourne Waste and Recycling Division. Since this represents open community-owned information, anyone can view the data log in near real time as the readings are collected. We have set up an online access interface here:
Compost Care (Naarm) 