Page 42 - Tropic Magazine Issue 28

TROPIC • INNOVATION

1. Salsa Owner & Chef Bill Conway
1 2. Jess Uhlig, Green Food Australia

2

Circular food

economy

ECO SOLUTIONS
Far North foodies are turning
food waste into a powerful
cause for change.

Words: Annabel Bowles Green waste
This process ticks so many
Potato peels, egg shells and carrot tops green boxes, whether it’s Each year food waste costs the
may seem pretty unimportant, but a Australian economy around
group of Port Douglas locals are food waste, top soil, or

proving otherwise. chemical run-off into $20 billion
Green Food Australia’s Jess and Dominik
Uhlig have found a way for consumers to the reef.
give back to growers with an innovative
new composting method. Jess Uhlig,
Green Food
Partnering with Salsa Bar & Grill, the Australia
pair are transforming the restaurant’s
daily green waste into a probiotic soil Jess, who’s also Marketing Manager One in five bags
supplement that’s now available to Far at Salsa, estimates the Port Douglas of groceries are wasted
North farmers. restaurant has 100 to 120kg of food
“This isn’t a fertiliser and it isn’t compost, waste each week, despite Head
but more of a probiotic,” Jess said. Chef Goran Zonai’s “incredibly savvy”
“The process breaks down our food by food preparation. 5%
combining it with bio-accelerants and “Salsa’s food waste alone will result in
water in a tank. about 300L of product each week, and of Australia’s greenhouse gas
“Then after a 28-day fermentation we’ve already got a few local growers lined emissions are from food waste
process, the product can be diluted and up to try it once it’s ready next month,”
poured back into the earth, enhancing she said.
the biology of the soil and locking the “It’ll be useful to your average home Source: Department of Agriculture,
carbon from all the food back into grower who wants to get a better yield Water & the Environment
the ground.” out of their tomatoes, to canegrowers

42 • Tropic • Issue 28