Putting New Twist On Compost
Newcastle Herald
Friday December 3, 1999
IT looks like an oversized corkscrew, it makes composting easier and faster, and it proved itself a winner last night.
`It' is the Compostworm, a simple but effective garden tool that is the invention of retired Hamilton project engineer Dion Kentwell.
The Compostworm, under the name djf projects, won the Waste Management and Minimisation category in the Private and Public Enterprise division of the 1999 Newcastle Environmental Achievement awards.
Designed for the mixing of the contents of home compost bins, the 80cm long Compostworm weights 700gm and has a rotating handle that sends it spiralling into the contents to the required depth.
The tool is then lifted, raising a plug of compost within its spiral coils and generally agitating and aerating the bin contents.
This needs to be done only a few times, once a week.
Mr Kentwell said he hoped its ease of use would encourage wider community interest in home composting and waste reduction.
`The addition of compost to the soil improves plant growth, and increases the capacity of the soil to hold nutrients and the ability of plants to resist disease,' he said.
© 1999 Newcastle Herald
