Green Space offers solutions to improper food waste handling and disposal. Through our Book-a-Bucket subscription service, we collect residential and corporate food waste in order to divert it from landfills and lessen harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Here's what happens.
GreenSpace's First Composting Site
In collaboration with Green Antz Builders, Rotary Club of Plaridel, United Architects of the Philippines, and the family of Engr. Ferdie and Mrs. Christy Magsakay (the owners of the lot), the discussion and conceptualization of the Luntiang Bakuran began in 2018. It was up and running by mid-2019.
Before then, the lot was idle.
More than TEN TONS OF FOOD WASTE collected by GreenSpace was composted in the Luntiang Bakuran before the 2020 lockdown. Finally, the compost was used to turn the other half of the farm into a bountiful garden!
The compost helped create healthy harvests of ampalaya, pipino, papaya, and tomato. Engr. Ferdie and Mrs. Christy are able to harvest a large amount of vegetables 3-4 times a week; enough for the family, for friends, relatives, neighbors, and even to sell!
Composting pits were constructed using GreenAntz ecobricks and were used to turn food waste into compost. The place was designed with the help of architects of UAP Rizal Kalayaan 100 Chapter.
Community Gardens
Through community gardens, GreenSpace aims to lessen carbon footprint by planting green spaces across cities where food waste can be composted. These green spaces will act as nearby composting sites so that food waste collected don't have to travel far.
To fulfill these envisioned green spaces, we have partnered with Urban Green Communes who "envisions turning Metro Manila into one big community food garden, with local community food gardens in every barangay" and Good Food Community who works with farmer families and aims to transform the current food system into community-supported agriculture.
Community-supported agriculture connects the producer and consumer more closely—through this, farming is kept sustainable, demand is kept stable, soil resources are conserved, and farmer livelihoods are supported.
As of June 2021, Urban Green Communes and Good Food Community have connected GreenSpace with five community gardens who will receive compost made from food waste collected through the Book-a-Bucket subscription service:
- PLM Pamayanihan sa Payatas - Pamayanihan sa Payatas and Bagong Silangan are comprised of 40 members organized by Pinagkaisang Lakas ng Mamamayan in a mix of container gardens and shared public land. What began as the Lingap Maralita solidarity program of kusinang bayans over lockdown eventually turned into the collective power of communities to grow food ourselves.
- NAMAPA Community Nursery - Nagkakaisang Magkakapitbahay sa Pasong Putik (NAMAPA), a homeowners' association in Bgy. North Fairview, Quezon City, maintains a community nursery where its members grow vegetable seedlings like ampalaya, talong, okra, and kamatis. Once the seedlings are ready, they are distributed to about 145 households in the community that, in turn, grow them for food in their own respective spaces.
- Greenfields I Green Commune - a community garden in Bgy. Kaligayahan, Quezon City. Around the start of community quarantines, neighbors in Greenfields I transformed an idle vacant lot used as a garbage dump into a thriving food garden. Now, the homeowners' association is eyeing a bigger open space to start a second community garden which will benefit over 500 households in the community.
- Asilo de San Vicente de Paul - a Haven of Hope for persons living in poverty situations.
Book-a-Bucket Composting Service
From September 2020 to June 23, 2021, our community of Soilmates has grown to 87 household and 8 business subscribers in NCR, completed 477 bucket exchanges, and diverted over 4.6 tons of food waste from the landfills! Not only are we lessening harmful greenhouse gas emissions through composting, we are treating food waste as valuable resources and putting them to great use!
The GreenSpace Book-a-Bucket composting service is simple:
- Sign up through our NEW SOILMATE APP (made in partnership with WWF-Philippines)
- Choose a plan that is right for you (3 months, 6 months, or 12 months)
- Once your payment is verified, wait for your two (2) buckets and one (1) jar of Bokashi bran to be delivered to you
- Start collecting your food waste!
- Once your bucket/s are full, Book-a-Bucket exchange through the SoilMate app so we can replace your full buckets with clean, empty ones!
Earn compost credits through bucket exchanges in order to redeem rewards! You may redeem a bag of compost for your own garden, donate a bag of compost to a community garden, redeem a gulay bag, or donate a gulay bag to a partner community!
Shop from Good Food Community today to support our local farmers, and subscribe to GreenSpace's Book-a-Bucket composting service to help provide compost to growing community gardens!