00:02It looks like illegal dumping, but for this fifth generation cattle farmer, it's future
00:08fertiliser.
00:08People used to think of it as rubbish, but nearly everything can be compostable.
00:13Before the folk festival had to pay to take it to a tip, and then it got buried in the
00:18ground where it produced methane that's not helping the planet.
00:22I take it for free and we turn it into a fertiliser that's then feeding my soil and feeding my
00:29cows.
00:29The carbon rich cardboard packaging is mixed with nitrogen rich frass, that's the technical
00:35term for insect poo.
00:37A light spray of microbial inoculant, basically beneficial microorganisms, then supercharges
00:43the mix and kick starts the composting process.
00:46And after a year, it's almost unrecognisable.
00:51With fertiliser availability fraught in the current crisis, recycling advocate Gerry Gillespie
00:57says the logic is hard to argue with.
01:00It's an absolute no-brainer.
01:01Depending on what material stream you're talking about, it's somewhere between 60% and 70%
01:05is organic material if you include paper and cardboard.
01:08Since 2022, all festivals and events in the ACT have been required to use only compostable
01:15packaging.
01:15But without facilities to process this waste, it isn't always composted.
01:20For this festival, what was a costly liability is now boosting soil fertility.
01:27Soils for Life did an in-depth study of Jilima Tong and they found that our cost of production
01:32had dropped dramatically and our production had actually increased.
01:36It's a win-win-win situation.
01:38It's plate to paddock to plate.
01:41It's a classic circular economy.
01:43From festival trash to a farmer's treasure.
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