The path of an entrepreneur is traditionally paved towards financial fruitful ventures, however, David Lye’s charitable composting initiative has returned a different kind of fruit from his labour.
The Newport local was awarded the Northern Beaches Volunteer of the Year award yesterday for recycling food waste into compost for the charity, One Meal. David has been volunteering for the organisation for years. One Meal provides meals for the needy, but expels tonnes of waste as a result – at least they used to, before they decided it was time for a change.
“One option is, you could put the food waste in your red bin with your general waste, but then it ends up in a landfill. It just decomposes there and gives off a load of methane. It’s not a good result,” David explained.
“So, we decided there’s got to be a better thing to do and started up a compost program which means that food waste can then be turned into something that’s useful and isn’t so harmful for the environment.”
David has established and sold a diverse spread of businesses in Australia, ranging from photography, tech websites and the automotive industry, but never something which involved implementing a green thumb.
The award winner initially joined the charity to explore the path of volunteering after selling his business. He didn’t intend to implement such a systematic change in One Meal’s waste distribution. It was his boss who was aware of David’s abilities and planted the idea of composting.
“Kim Williams, so he’s my boss at One Meal. He came up with the idea. One Meal was having about two tons of food waste every month which comes through the site, so he thought this would be a great little project to work on,” David said.
Managing suppliers, gaining donors and organising distribution is an essential part of running the project, and fortunately, an area David is experienced in.
One Meal and Fisher Road School in Dee Why have an established partnership where the kids come to help assemble food packages for the charity. The school agreed to facilitate their grounds for the composting initiative.
The site now has 42 compost bins with the product donated to communities, schools such as Dee Why and Newport Public, and the Royal Botanic Gardens community garden scheme, which plants veggies in housing commission community gardens.
Multiple local businesses also donate supplies which assist with the charity’s composting needs.
But David said some of the most enjoyable work comes from helping the kids from Fisher Road School learn about composting.
“It’s a new experience for me, and it’s been great. It’s been really rewarding,” he said.
“Working with the Fisher Road kids, and also there’s a disability group Up & Over, so they are a little bit older, in their early 20s, they come down every Wednesday to the site and we’ll be turning the compost and bagging it up.
“They learn a lot, and they go out beaming. Highlight of my week is Wednesday mornings down here.”
The Volunteer of the Year awards are hosted by The Centre for Volunteering and aim to commemorate those who have donated their time and provided exceptional services for their community.
Glenn Fisher was awarded Senior Volunteer of the Year for her work helping people connect while also improving the lives of people living with a disability. Glenn volunteers as a radio presenter for Radio Northern Beaches, a community representative on the Northern Sydney Local Health District Cognitive Impairment Committee and helped establish the Turner Syndrome Association of Australia and Australasian Genetic Support Group and Growth Foundation.
The Volunteer Team of the year was One Meal Northern Beaches. The team took home the award for the collective efforts of 190 cooks providing over 900 meals a week to vulnerable communities.
One Meal, Up & Over and Fisher Road School will further their charitable efforts this Saturday with a compost sale.
If you’re feeling inspired by the actions of these volunteers and also want to make a difference, or perhaps you would just like to spruce up your garden with some A-grade compost, then head down to the school this weekend.
The funds will go towards diverting more food away from landfills to create more compost for local gardens.
The sale will be from 9am – 12 pm on 115 Fisher Rd, Dee Why this Saturday.
