Event Buckets

We do this so you can focus on your event!

We serve Whakatū Nelson and Stoke Only

♻️ EVENTS ♻️

1. You select your event buckets here (this is a one-off service for events or short-term needs)

2. Complete the Form - next‍ ‍(give us all the details)

3. Pay (at the checkout)

4. We deliver clean buckets‍ ‍(next Wednesday or Thursday)

5. Fill them with your food scraps during your event (Looking super enviro-conscious!)

6. You place the buckets out for collection‍ ‍(the following week, before 9am)

7. We pick them up (between 9am and 2pm)

8. Compost Club will compost your organics in a skilful & nerdy way (you can join them on Saturdays between 10am-11am)

A few important details

• This is a one-off collection, not a subscription

• We use 20L buckets to optimise our inclusive, people centric, operations philosophy on handling and collections.

• Buckets must be safely liftable by one person. Overfilled or unsafe buckets may not be collected.

• Buckets must contain food scraps / organics only

• Pricing includes a one-off service fee and per-bucket handling

• No Refunds or Cancellations. When you buy buckets you are buying capacity in our system which we usually cannot re-sell.

• For ongoing or repeated needs, a weekly subscription is better value

What goes in the buckets (and why)

We collect food scraps only — things that can safely return to the soil.

Yes please

• Fruit and vegetable scraps

• Cooked food and leftovers

• Bread, grains, rice, pasta

• Meat, fish, bones, and dairy

• Coffee grounds and loose tea (no plastic tea bags)

No Thanks

• Packaging of any kind (including “compostable” or “biodegradable” packaging)

• Plastics, wrappers, cutlery, straws, or napkins

• Liquids, oils, or fats

• Glass, metal, or anything non-organic

About packaging

We don’t accept packaging of any kind — even items labelled “compostable” or “biodegradable”.

This is because our composting system is intentionally low-temperature.

We keep it this way to protect microbial diversity, soil life, and nutrient quality.

Most compostable packaging is designed for high-heat industrial composting systems.

In a low-temperature, biology-first process like ours, these materials:

• don’t fully break down

• fragment into residues

• reduce compost quality

• undermine the living soil we’re trying to grow

Keeping packaging out allows us to:

• compost food scraps completely and safely

• return clean, living compost to the whenua

• support healthy microbial ecosystems, not just waste diversion

If you’re unsure about an item, leave it out — food scraps only is always the safest choice.

If contamination occurs

We understand that mistakes happen — especially at busy events.

If buckets contain contamination:

• We’ll remove what we can where it’s safe to do so

• Heavily contaminated contents may need to be disposed of instead of composted

• In some cases, an additional handling or disposal fee may apply

Our goal is always to compost your food waste where possible and protect the quality of the finished compost.