Compost & resource cycling

Compost and organic cycling frame the farm as local infrastructure that turns waste into a resource. Within food-loss and decarbonisation agendas, it readily attracts municipal and corporate partners.

313 cases

Key takeaways

313 cases involve cycling, compost or food loss.
Collection flow, odour/hygiene and compost quality are the crux.
Value emerges when bundled with food education and waste policy.

What the data shows

The basic loop collects food scraps from homes and restaurants and street-tree prunings, composts them and returns them to the beds. Collection logistics, odour/hygiene control and compost quality are the operational crux; resident-run compost stations are an increasingly common core.

Hard to monetise on its own, so it is usually designed together with food education, community building and municipal waste-reduction policy. The lever is its value as a local system that reduces food loss, more than the compost itself.

Representative cases

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Gap space

Interim use2008

Kibera Sack Gardening

KENairobi, Kenya

Vertical sack gardening spreading through Nairobi's large Kibera settlement, where residents grow kale and spinach in soil-filled bags in densely packed areas with no farmland.

CommunityOrganic cycleWelfare+1

foodsystemsjournal.org+4

Community garden

1982

Abalimi Bezekhaya

ZACape Town, South Africa

Founded in 1982, this Cape Town non-profit supports small-scale citizen farming in the townships. True to its name 'farmers of the home', it provides training and supplies so residents of poor areas can grow organic vegetables, underpinning food security and livelihoods.

CommunityFood educationOrganic cycle+2

abalimibezekhaya.org.za+4

Vacant lot

Yedikule Bostans (Historic Market Gardens)

TRIstanbul, Turkey

Historic market gardens (bostans) surviving along Istanbul's Theodosian Walls since Byzantine and Ottoman times. While preserving organic urban agriculture and heirloom seeds, gardeners, citizens and activists have joined forces to resist redevelopment plans. The Yedikule marul (lettuce) has become a symbol of their struggle.

CommunityBiodiversityOrganic cycle+1

anfenglish.com+4

Community garden

2020

Nomura Real Estate Urban Experience Farm Service (with JA Setagaya-Meguro)

JPSetagaya, Tokyo, Japan

A membership-based urban experience farm launched by Nomura Real Estate with JA Setagaya-Meguro in November 2020 in Nakamachi, Setagaya. Over 2,000 sqm of member-owned productive green land is leased and divided into roughly 200 plots (3.6 sqm each) rented to residents and citizens. JA farmers and advisors support cultivation, and with seeds, seedlings, fertilizer and tools provided, even beginners can experience real farming from planting to harvest empty-handed. It aims to preserve shrinking urban farmland while fostering food education and community.

Food educationCommunityDIY+1

jacom.or.jp+3