Let’s Talk Compost! Celebrating International Compost Awareness Week
- Helen Charles
- May 5
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 13
🌍 🐝 World Bee Day is almost here – May 20th! It's a celebration of the vital role bees and pollinators play in keeping our planet healthy. But before we roll out the red carpet for the bees, there’s another event I’m super excited to talk about…
International Compost Awareness Week! Yes, compost – glorious, earthy, life-giving compost!
Now, I know people fall somewhere on a big scale when it comes to composting – from the compost-curious, to the bokashi-bin trendsetters, all the way to the fully compost-obsessed. I'm very much at the extreme end of this scale. I LOVE composting. Truly. My compost bins, worm farms, and even chickens are like little cookie monsters, gobbling up my organic scraps and turning waste into the beautiful compost that helps my plants to grow!
So, what is International Compost Awareness Week?
🗓️ International Compost Awareness Week Australia (ICAW) is a week of events, education, and action focused on promoting the importance of composting. It’s all about turning our organic “waste” into a valuable resource, reducing carbon pollution, and helping our soil thrive. Because healthier soil = healthier planet. Simple as that!

My Composting Methods: From Worms to Chooks to HOT Compost!
If you’re new to composting or curious about how others do it, here’s a snapshot of my composting setup:
🪱 Worm Farm
My red wigglers are little legends. They munch their way through banana skins (banana bread is a staple in our house!), veggie scraps, and other soft organic materials. In return? Gorgeous worm castings and worm wee that is liquid gold for my fruit trees.
♻️ Compost Bins
Over the years, I’ve experimented with all shapes and sizes. My favourite are the dome-shaped compost bins that sit directly on the ground. I’ve usually got a few going at once – it’s a little compost rotation station!
🔥 Hot Compost
Yes, there’s such a thing as hot compost! At the farm, we have the space to create big compost piles by layering carbon and nitrogen-rich materials (think food scraps, straw, manure, even roo poo, leaves etc). When done right, the pile heats up and breaks down fast!
🚽 Compost Toilet (Yes, really!)
Several years ago (I think this was during covid lock downs) I read the most wonderful book by a gentleman, Joseph Jenkins - called - wait for it - The Human Manure Handbook - shit in a nutshell. Inspired by the book we installed a compost toilet at the farm and we haven’t looked back since!
🐔 Chickens
My chooks are composting heroes! They gobble up scraps and process them into nutrient-rich manure overnight! I collect it with their wonderful eggs and add it to the compost. It’s like adding baking powder to a cake: it takes the compost to the next level!

What Do I Compost?
Almost everything organic! This includes:
Fruit and veggie scraps, tea and coffee grounds, leftovers, cardboard, paper towels… the list goes on and on!
Hair from our Aussie Bulldogs (yes, really – they shed like woolly mammoths!)
Garden clippings and leaves
A beeswax by-product called slumgum 🐝 It is the impure residue that remains after beeswax is extracted from honeycombs
In a nutshell - if it can break down naturally, it’s going into my compost.

Why Compost?
Here are some powerful reasons to start composting today:
Healthier Soil = Healthier Planet
Compost feeds the soil, which supports healthy microbes. These microbes help sequester carbon and improve plant growth.
Reduces Greenhouse Gases
Organic waste in landfill breaks down without oxygen, releasing methane – a potent greenhouse gas. Composting keeps things aerobic and climate-friendly!
Increases Water Retention
It helps soil hold onto water, which means healthier plants and less need for watering. During our recent drought at the farm, compost enabled me to plant seedlings that would not have otherwise grown
💚 It Just Feels Good
There’s something deeply satisfying about transforming waste into something life-giving. A year after tossing scraps into the compost bin, I’m digging them back into the earth to grow something new.
Ready to Get Started?
If you’re new to composting, start simple:
Try a worm farm if you’ve got a small space.
Go for a dome compost bin if you have a backyard.
And remember – Rome wasn't built in a day! It usually takes 6–12 months and sometimes even longer for compost to fully break down, but it’s worth the wait.
Get Involved this Compost Awareness Week!
Visit the ICAW website for more resources and info.
If you’s like to learn more about compost and sustainability in your community, school or workplace, I’d love to come and share some compost inspiration with you. Please send me a message!
Happy International Compost Awareness Week!

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