Always on
This project successfully funded on 30th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Composting food waste in the New Forest
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Aim
Turn unavoidable food waste into compost, reduce landfill, and teach our community sustainable habits for a greener future.
New Forest Aquaponics CIC (NFA) is a community interest company established in 2018. While it began with aquaponics—an innovative, sustainable method of growing plants and fish together—it has since grown into a broader movement for ecological living and community resilience. The passion of NFA’s founders to demonstrate practical sustainability has transformed the organisation into an umbrella for several community projects that reduce waste, promote reuse, and provide affordable access to food for those most in need. Our mission focuses on reducing waste, encouraging local food production, to help communities prevent, prepare for, and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.
The Waterside food Project works to deal with food surplus from supermarkets to feed our community. Collecting from an average 70 shops a week is a lot of food. It is shared though the community fridge in Hythe Library, the community pantry in Lucie's Place, and the weekly free community meal, both in Blackfield. For use by foods like coleslaw and sandwiches we have the Langley Food Box. After all that there is still some foods that we have no choice but to waste. But we have created a choice!
Composting!
By using hot composting methods we are able to take everything that is left and turn it into living compost to grow more food. Having been doing this for several years and mostly with just the woman power of Lucie, it is time to get the community more involved.
The process at the moment involves the food waste being kept in sealed buckets at Lucie's Place, home to The Waterside Food Projects community pantry until our amazing friends with their horsebox can come and move it all for us.
But this all takes time, and as we all get busier it can just be too long between trips meaning we can run out of empty buckets, or if Lucie's away or running courses we can get behind with making the hot compost. None of this is efficant or good use of resources.
So we have a plan!
If we can raise funds to purchase a Ridan Composter, we can keep this in the garden at Lucie's Place, our community pantry site in Blackfield, and process the food waste on a daily basis. Our volunteers are looking forward to using it, it will free up space at Lucie's Place and at the Aquaponics composting area. We will then only have to move the pre-compost to be matured at our composting site. It will also allow everyone who comes to Lucie's Place to see the Ridan, learn about composting, and have a go, giving them the skills to compost for themselves and support a sustainable future.
The matured living compost will then be used for growing food at Lucie's Place, help improve the soil at our project sites and to be sold to the local community to support our running costs.
This is a video of how one school uses a Ridan, we will be doing the same, just over two sites, with your help :-)
Communities Fund has provided £2,887 of match funding
Communities Fund Employee Giving has provided £160 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made