Hobart's Dirty Hands Composting Cooperative turns cafe scraps into community garden soil

What is the background?

Food waste sent to landfill breaks down without oxygen and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, whereas composted food waste returns nutrients directly to soil. Community composting Hobart initiatives like Dirty Hands aim to intercept food scraps before they reach landfill, using them locally instead.

What happened?

Dirty Hands Composting Cooperative collects food scraps from cafes and restaurants around Hobart and processes them into compost, working directly with community gardens that host the composting operation. In exchange for the use of their space, participating gardens receive finished compost to use on site.

The idea was first submitted to the City of Hobart Council in May 2016, received a successful grant that August, and made its first collection that November — giving the cooperative roughly a decade of continuous operation by 2026.

How did it happen?

The cooperative’s model works because it solves two problems for two different groups at once: cafes and restaurants get a way to divert food scraps that would otherwise cost money to send to landfill, while community gardens get free compost without needing to source or process the material themselves. Neither side needs to run the composting operation independently.

The cooperative’s work now sits alongside the City of Hobart’s own FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin programme, which lets residents place most food scraps — including meat and dairy, which home compost bins typically cannot handle — directly into a council-collected bin. Together, the two approaches cover both household and commercial food waste streams.

Why does it matter?

Hobart’s council has set a target of zero waste to landfill by 2030, and diverting food waste is one of the most direct ways to make progress toward that goal, since food scraps make up a large share of general landfill volume. A cooperative model that has run continuously since 2016 shows the approach is durable, not a short-lived pilot.

Returning finished compost to the same community gardens that host the operation keeps the nutrient cycle local — scraps generated in Hobart cafes become soil used in Hobart gardens, rather than being trucked elsewhere for processing.

What were the key results?

• Dirty Hands Composting Cooperative has operated continuously since its first collection in November 2016
• Collects food scraps directly from Hobart cafes and restaurants
• Processes scraps into compost in partnership with community gardens
• Participating gardens receive finished compost in exchange for hosting the operation
• Idea proposed to Hobart City Council in May 2016; grant approved that August
• Runs alongside the City of Hobart’s FOGO bin programme for household food waste
• Contributes to Hobart’s council target of zero waste to landfill by 2030

What happens next?

Dirty Hands Composting Cooperative plans to continue expanding its network of participating cafes, restaurants, and community gardens.

The City of Hobart is expected to report progress toward its zero-waste-to-landfill 2030 target as FOGO bin uptake grows.

The council’s Urban Sustainability Grants programme continues to fund schools, community groups, and businesses running similar waste-reduction projects.

Community gardens involved in the cooperative are expected to expand the range of produce grown using the compost as supply increases.