Greening and Conservation is one of our 5 key focus areas and we also encourage residents to grow their own food. We have made our grounds in Diepsloot available for vegetable gardens and tunnels, some of which are used by our Roots & Shoots kids to learn about growing food.  We also support various food gardens in Diepsloot.

We are excited to announce that The Wot-if? Trust has recently entered in to a partnership with Food &Trees for Africa and Nespresso.  “We’ll be using coffee grounds from used coffee pods in a pilot composting project, to enhance the soil in our various food gardens at the Father Louis Blondel Centre, and other gardens in Diepsloot”, says Rita Groenewald, our Greening and Conservation Specialist.

Various community stakeholders attended a 2-day permaculture and composting workshop in June, the first of a series to be given by Food & Trees over the next 3 months.

“Coffee grounds are excellent for composting, as the grounds assist bacteria in converting organic matter to compost, acting as an activator in the composting process”, Groenewald says. “Nespresso coffee pods are fully recyclable, and we would encourage anyone using these to find their local recycling depot to ensure both the aluminum pods and coffee grounds don’t end up in landfills.”

Groenewald advises that coffee grounds should not be sent to landfills, as they can emit high levels of methane when not composted correctly, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Combining the coffee grounds with the existing composting we are already doing, should make a big difference to our soil quality, improving the yield of our food gardens that benefit participants of the precinct.