Two major milestones were recently celebrated by Evelyn Page Retirement Village residents visiting a nearby farm converted into a banana plantation.

The first was the five-year anniversary since Ryman Healthcare’s Ōrewa village signed up to the City to Farm project, which sees food scraps collected, fermented and then composted on the farm at nearby Waitoki and is part of a pilot study.

The second milestone is that the amount of food scraps collected from Evelyn Page is soon to tip over the 100 tonnes mark.

According to Sustainable North Trust’s Betsy Kettle, using the WasteMINZ calculation that 1kg of food diverted from landfill equates to 2.66kg of CO2 equivalent avoided, this means that 190 tonnes of greenhouse gases have been diverted from the environment thanks to the Evelyn Page team’s efforts.

“We are so grateful to Evelyn Page for jumping on board with us, we really couldn’t have done it without them,” Betsy says.

“Graeme, Sue and Sylvia asked such good questions about banana growing and the efficacy of food scraps as fertiliser.”

Residents Graeme Howard, Sue Hoy and Sylvia Glenister were excited to visit farmer Phil Grainger’s plantation to find out more about the process.

Farmer Phil Grainger shows Evelyn Page resident Sue Hoy the bananas growing under the blue protective bag (above) and, from left, residents Graeme Howard, Sue Hoy and Sylvia Glenister with Betsy Kettle and Phil Grainger and a freshly cut bunch of bananas (below). Residents Graeme, Sue and Sylvia with bananas fertilised using compost made from Evelyn Page Village food scraps (top pic).

“It was inspirational, we thought it was amazing,” says Sue, who is keen to rally volunteers from the village to help at the farm.

“The commitment of Phil and Betsy and the effort they have put in…. it would be good if some residents can get involved. There are so many possibilities.”

The bins collected from all 19 of the participating organisations are stored at the farm for further decomposition, where the food scraps, fermented anaerobically using bokashi zing, are also mixed with biochar, which is charcoal made from untreated sawdust.

This addition of carbon with its ability to retain water and nutrients better than just straight compost, comes from an ancient Amazonian practice known as terra preta, and improves the quality of the soil making it fertile enough to grow bananas in what was previously clay-heavy land.

It was Graeme who first spotted an article about the pilot scheme in the local newspaper in 2019 and suggested joining to the village’s management team.

Farmer Phil shares fresh bananas with Betsy, Graeme and Sylvia at his Waitoki farm.

“I’m so pleased that Village Manager Jill Clark immediately saw the benefits of this scheme diverting food scraps from the kitchen from going into landfills and without hesitation agreed for our village to participate,” says Graeme.

“I see the 45 litre food scrap bins used by Phil being taken away from the village regularly but never realised how much tonnage was being composted now from just the Hibiscus Coast. That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.”

Betsy said the City to Farm scheme now epitomised a true circular economy, with the delivery of 5kg of bananas to one of the kindergartens each week currently being trialled.

“We are hoping the three Massey University professors and Master's student will help us prove that what we are doing is good for the environment, the soil, the climate, and farmers’ pocketbooks.”

Betsy says to scale up effectively the scheme needed more specialised equipment to encourage more farmers to join.

Graeme adds: “The knowledge of both Phil and Betsy deserves major recognition. Listening to what they have to say has the potential for tremendous advantages for the world.”

Evelyn Page Village Manager Jill Clark says: “We are happy to be giving something to the community and helping to grow bananas. It is now just part of what we do at Evelyn Page.

“I think in this world of sustainability, it could be seen as doing something small now to help make bigger change for the future.”