Today, on #MANDELADAY, the SOUL Committee visited Sisonke Durban Garden with a donation of seedlings…. and a little bit of their time! The theme for #MANDELADAY this year is ‘Climate, food and solidarity’. In the words of the Committee, ‘It was absolutely incredible. Sarah is incredible. The people working there are incredible. In just 18 months they have accomplished SO much with very limited funding.’ Thank you SOUL Committee for donating your time to learn more about this wonderful project. #itisinyourhands

During South Africa’s COVID19 lockdown, a group of homeless men in downtown Durban started a food garden. The project found some success, but as Sarah Alsen of Bioregional noticed, its productivity had started to wane as the months passed by. One day as she drove past the garden, she decided to investigate and found that because of the garden’s success, many of the men who started it had since found full time employment elsewhere. The garden was suffering without their skills. Sarah, who has since become a facilitator for the garden’s transition into an SMME, hired a permaculture mentor and trainer to advise. The soil, he said, had been depleted. And so arose an opportunity.

“I approached a nearby hotel and asked about their food waste,” Sarah reflects. “And there are trees and a park right by the site, they had lots of green waste, some of which is collected in plastic bags and transported to landfill.” Sarah joined the dots, persuaded the hotel to purchase Bokashi bran which accelerates food waste composting, even of cooked, dairy and meat products –it is like ‘composting on steroids’, she says- and the pilot composting project was born. Six months after the project’s inception, the circularity dimension which characterises the business is proving its worth. Weekly compost is turned and made, and the food garden is flourishing. By collaborating and making connections with local businesses like a nearby Spar, an early morning food market, a restaurant and even residents of nearby flats, Sarah has helped find a market for the organic produce. And the garden is also being used as a work experience site for final year DUT (Durban University of Technology) horticulture students.

“The consequent benefit is to the local people,” says Sarah, who notes that serious disruptions in supply chains caused by social unrest and environmental disasters in the last year have highlighted the need to shorten supply chains and look at local production for local needs.

“By creating one’s own compost, there’s a 98% savings in greenhouse gases that would have been emitted had the waste gone to landfill, not to mention the carbon associated with transporting food and waste from place to place,” says Sarah. “Plus, we’re not only providing local, seasonal, organic and fresh produce, we’re also promoting zero waste as most of the produce is not packaged” she adds. “Any waste from the garden can also be composted, adding to the circularity of the system too”.

“We’ve proven that it can be done, now is the time to ramp this up,” she says. Bioregional has identified four additional sites that they would like to work with, with existing restaurants and gardens where compost production can occur. “Food waste use, food growing and composting, if we can stitch that together, that’s beautiful circularity.” But for the initial pilot project with Sisonke Durban Garden, the benefits reach beyond creating livelihoods and a great circular economy project. “Local residents are generally grumpy about homeless communities near them,” Sarah says, “but we’re starting to change that narrative. We’re not only providing employment and local organic produce at a fair price, we’re creating a positive story and showing that with collaboration we really can create healthier and happier neighbourhoods for the good of all, while also having a positive impact on the environment.”

VISION FOR THE FUTURE

“The vision is to expand this project, teaching people how to make compost using food and garden waste such that we have an established network of production for local needs and with it, training and employment opportunities and a network of urban food gardens. We need to value waste as a resource to tackle climate change, build resilient communities and regenerate the living systems of our earth.

Sisonke – together – we can.”

Article compliments of Bioregional South Africa

ABOUT THE SOUL COMMITTEE

The SOUL Committee focuses on educating Thompsons Africa and Cullinan employees, customers, suppliers and friends on the importance of conserving our environment and wildlife for future generations.  This committee works to identify sustainable initiatives within our office environment in order to minimise our impact on the environment.  Additionally, they identify key conservation organisations who Thompsons Africa supports, assists and/or promotes.

The Committee is also responsible for supporting and garnering both monetary and non-monetary contributions for Thompsons Africa identified charities and not-for-profit organisations.  We are committed to its involvement and care of the greater community and through the initiatives of the Committee, aim to truly ‘make a difference’.