Unconsented worm farm to be gone by Friday

Martin Wilson's informal worm farm was set up at an old bus stop in Aro Valley. Photo / Ruby Spink

The owner of an unconsented worm farm in Wellington has finally agreed to move his community compost centre elsewhere, but wants council to get on board with his initiative.

Martin Wilson set up a worm farm by a bus stop in Aro Valley for members of the public to add their compost to, but was told by Wellington City Council about six weeks ago he had to move it off council land.

Since then he's admitted to being "very naughty", only yesterday putting a "lovely little sign" up by the bins that said "community compost".

Wilson set up the worm farm because he is passionate about the planet and learning to "live in better harmony with it".

I think they should engage with this because there's a huge demand.

Martin Wilson

He said council should be looking at environmentally-friendly waste management options, and was personally in favour of having a public compost or worm farm for every six to eight houses in Wellington.

"If the council wants to fund the project I would love to trial with them ... I think they should engage with this because there's a huge demand."

In early March, council found out about the worm farm and told Wilson to move it, but it was only this week he properly committed to doing so.

"I committed to removing it by Friday, I'll be a good boy. I think I've made my point, I've communicated the information to council about waste minimisation very clearly."

Wilson did not yet know where he was going to put all his worms, or the "nearly mature soil" they'd been working on for four months.

He has three worm farms set up around his neighbourhood, but only one was on council land.

He was enthusiastic about the idea of council funding community compost centres or providing services to help people run their own worm farms.

"Local is the key word," he said.

If the area gets overwhelmed we're going to have a lot of compost, food material just piled up there, which isn't really a good thing for anybody.

Deane Virtue

"I think there needs to be lots and lots and lots of locations."

Council could offer services such as one to swap out bins once they were ready, or to have a staff member service people's bins at their home.

There should also be more community gardens for worm farms to be attached to, though these should be run voluntarily by residents, he said.

"The council are the ones who can fund and easily authorise those sorts of activities. In the meantime, I'm just providing some local worm farm options."

Council cleansing and growth team leader Deane Virtue said the bus stop was "not really a really good place for a worm farm".

"He didn't get any A-okay from the council or anything like that ... a site like that could get overwhelmed with material quite quickly."

Virtue said the farm could become smelly and attract rats, though Wilson said there were many rat traps in the area due to its proximity to Zealandia, a wildlife reserve.

Virtue spoke to Wilson again today about removing the worm farm.

"If the area gets overwhelmed we're going to have a lot of compost, food material just piled up there, which isn't really a good thing for anybody."

Virtue said anything that recycled waste was a good idea, but it needed to be done in the "proper way" and "have the ability to cope with the amount of material that it could generate".