The words ‘Closed Loop Food Production’ came out of a recent meeting with the Feilding Council and while the words describe a practice already implemented by many households and communities, nonetheless represents something in my view that all households should aspire to.
What ‘Closed Loop Food Production’ simply refers to is the process of turning food waste into compost, compost into healthy veggies, healthy veggies into low cost home cooked meals, and meals into food waste – ie closing the loop as far as possible on each of the stages of the food production and disposal process.
1. Composting Household Waste
The first step is in learning the skills of home composting: something incredibly easy and not very time consuming at all, but that many households simply don’t participate in.
The various methods of home composting are numerous and I won’t repeat them here. The method of composting I choose for my house/motelhold is ‘vermicomposting’ or worm farming. Basically, what this means is collecting and distributing the compostable household waste from the manager flat and each of the motel units and distributing them among four worm farms that I have at the back of the motel.
The benefit of home composting is that it actually saves you a heck of a lot of money. The KCDC, for example, charges $4.60 per rubbish bag on a good day, meaning that the reduction of your household food waste by 50% could literally save the typical household over $100 per year.
2. Using Household Compost as Fertiliser to Grow Crops
The big insight for me that came out of my meeting with the Feilding Council was that organically compostable food waste was in a sense an ‘asset’ that was going to landfill – it could easily be collected, and with the addition of a couple of low complexity procedures, be turned into valuable compost.
Not only does composting save the household money by reducing their waste burden, it also produces a valuable commodity.
In our case, vermicompost is one of the mostly highly prized forms of natural organic compost. Vermicompost that comes from a range of household rubbish is also often of a very high nutrient quality compared to bulk-produced compost, that often comes from a far smaller mix of ingredients.
Compost can then be used as a nutrient enhancer for many crops. Square foot gardening is a gardening process I am particularly fond of, and that requires a blend of high quality composts to make up the soil.
3. Consuming Home Grown Veg
The most important part, I think, of all of this is that you actually take the time to harvest and eat the crops you grow.
Home grown, nutrient dense vegetables are about the most nutritious you can get. They should save you money from your shopping trolley and make your shopping trips fewer and further between.
Between this and a good stock recipe you can all but eliminate a huge chunk of your weekly supermarket budget.
So in short, the above process should save your household money in three ways:
Adopting this lifestyle is not only really healthy but also reduces your exposure to inflation over time.
So how much can this process save your household over time? Well, it depends on the amount of waste you compost, the compost you produce and the veggies you grow. But here’s a bit of an indication:
If your rubbish bags cost $4.60 per bag (KCDC costs) and you reduce them by 50%, that saves you $120 per year (assuming you currently get through one per week) JUST IN RUBBISH BAGS
Fertiliser costs vary depending on the type you use. Cheapo stuff may go for $9 for around 20 litres. Better quality stuff can be harder to find and often costs $25 for 20 litres. In any case, the amount you save from household composting may only be around $20 worth.
But the big saving comes from growing your own veggies, which, using highly productive techniques may not take you very long at all. If you can eliminate $20 from your supermarket basket per week by growing (for instance) herbs as well as lettuce varieties for salad, and perhaps some tomatoes and radishes, that can save you over $1000 per year. It sounds like a lot, but it is not implausible if you set up enough gardens for each adult or child in your family.
Characteristics of this System
This is a skill-based system, which relies upon a series of easily communicable steps that are simple to learn and many people will be able to teach. The system not only saves you money in the short term, but reduces your exposure to inflationary pressure over the long term. It’s a great set of skills for someone to learn who’s retiring (and who needs to reduce their cost base in order to survive off super), but also, equally, it’s great for someone younger to learn because it can well and truly help to set them up for life.
