Backstory
Jurong Lake Gardens was never on our radar as a possible candidate for a foodscrapping and compost-making trial. It is a 90-hectare public park managed by NParks, who for some time had been exploring ideas to introduce edible gardening and composting as a way to build kampung spirit.
The staff were confident that there would be interest in community food scrap composting amongst allotment growers and the Gardens’ volunteer communities, as well as people who live near the Gardens.
When one of NParks’ staff reached out to explore possibilities of working and learning together, we were excited to find much alignment in what we value, and how both sides felt community food scrap composting has a lot of potential to bring people together for an environmental cause, while creating a sense of community. The possibility of raising awareness on foodscrapping and composting to a wider audience was also irresistible for both teams.
After many enthusiastic discussions about where the community compost sites could be and how the community composting interactions could look like, the NParks team created a composting area in early 2020.