Leussink worms its way into compost management

Leussink Engineering has merged its manufacturing capability with the widespread need for community recycling. With the launch of Leussink Global Worming, the company now manufactures customised compost worm farms for any level of compost management.

“It all happened while our engineering business, in the act of diversification, was putting the finishing touches to an eight-storey building in the centre of Wollongong, a site we were constructing for a tenant which happens to be the ATO,” said Leussink Director Jason Leussink.

“With 400 tax office people and a few dozen more occupying the ground-level retail shops, the building encompasses 6600 m² of floor space and right from the start was destined to churn out vast amounts of waste.”

Leussink explained that the company was challenged to raise the building’s Green Star rating from 4-Star to 5-Star. Leussink said they explored “all the traditional avenues for efficiency … then one of our co-directors hit the nail on the head”.

“Why search in vain for tiny latitudes for improvement in the already energy-efficient utilities when you can do something about the masses of organic waste that gets trucked off to a typical commercial site every week - or even every day - for about $150 each?” Leussink said.

“With that was born Leussink Global Worming - industrial-strength worm farm enclosures sized and manufactured at our plant in Unanderra according to the volume of waste output of the client.”

The farms house compost worms that devour paper, food scraps or any other organic-based material, proving suitable for an ATO office which constantly has paper waste. The farm also serves the retail tenancies at ground level, one of which is a coffee shop restaurant that would have placed its used cardboard and food scraps into general waste.

Leussink’s system is modular; if any user requires an increase in its stocks of composting worms, another metal housing is manufactured and joined to what is already there. Likewise, the farm can be reduced in size as needed.

Before, all recyclable waste used to go to council pick-up and collection while the food scraps were collected in commercial skips for general landfill. Now, the building’s organic waste is turned into a useful by-product, with the worm droppings used as fertiliser for the site’s gardens.

“Considering in the Illawarra region approximately 50% of our waste collected by council is organic matter, we are proud as a manufacturing company to make a difference and in the process open the door for a completely new diversification in our business,” said Leussink.

“The fact that 100% of the on-site organic waste now goes into the worm farm and is distributed back into the garden is very pleasing, and is definitely a model which we are keen to take to our council authorities.”