Dead sea life washed ashore in South Australia turned to compost

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Dead marine life washed ashore during SA's algal bloom is being recycled into commercial compost. The state government estimates 500 tonnes of marine waste has been cleared from beaches since the bloom hit in March.

Transcript

00:00Anthony and Kayleen Obst love their community garden

00:05and know how to make their tomatoes extra sweet.

00:07Now put some fertilizer.

00:10Fertilizer.

00:11The Obsts are using locally processed compost.

00:14In South Australia, that includes organic material

00:16collected from the familiar green bin.

00:19And, as of March this year,

00:21the dead sea life that's been washing up along the coast.

00:24It's all about making the best of a bad situation.

00:27Ian Tanner coordinates the beach cleanups.

00:29He says processing the dead wildlife

00:31is no different to chucking out household scraps.

00:33Maybe they order 100 prawns for Christmas

00:36and they don't eat them all.

00:38They go in the green bin potentially and they end up in compost.

00:41There's nothing toxic or dangerous

00:43about the fish that we're picking up.

00:45Typical green waste, like garden clippings and leftovers,

00:48still makes up most of what gets into sites like this.

00:51But the 500 or so tonnes of marine waste cleaned up since March

00:55does make up a fraction of the processed soil.

00:57Material that's been collected earlier this year

00:59would be in finished compost products.

01:02Most of it ends up in farming,

01:03but a lot of it ends up back into home gardens

01:05or community gardens as well.

01:07Beachside community gardener, Colin Agard,

01:09sees it as a win-win.

01:11It takes away all the smelly refuse from the beach.

01:14It's all composted and comes back

01:16to be available for garden nutrients.

01:18He's been putting the nutrient-rich compost on

01:21at the Kamunka Community Garden at North Bryden.

01:23It's a great resource,

01:25although it's a very sad way of getting it.

01:28The local council shares a similar sentiment.

01:30It's embraced the organic processing,

01:32even donating the compost to the community garden.

01:34But there's still a desire for a broader solution

01:36to the algal crisis.

01:38It would be great if we could go towards the summer,

01:41having a clean beach where everyone could get back in there

01:44and really enjoy our beach community.

01:47A wish for beachgoers as the response to the bloom grows.

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