Mandy composts her way towards self-sufficiency

Mandy Spooner: “Waste drives me crazy, and I’ve been on a mission to replace all the plastic in my house and help others do the same for years.” 

Mandy Spooner always wanted enough homegrown vegetables to be self-sufficient, and her new home at Yandina Creek will be the perfect spot. 

Mandy, her husband Ellis and their two sons moved from Peregian Springs to their one-acre property last November. 

“We’ve been working towards this for many years,” Mandy said. 

“Now we’re building veggie patches; using rain tanks.”

Composting daily food waste was an essential part of her low-waste lifestyle. 

Mandy recently installed a simple but high-tech composting system called Subpod from award-winning online ecostore, Go For Zero, which is also based on the Sunshine Coast.

“I’m fairly new to composting and gardening but I have a great composter that sits in the ground and the worms go in and out, fertilising your garden. It’s magic!” Mandy said. 

This month Mandy celebrated International Compost Awareness Week (May 1-7).  

“Waste drives me crazy, and I’ve been on a mission to replace all the plastic in my house and help others do the same for years,” Mandy said. “I came across Go For Zero – a really great local business – when I was looking for daily essentials that were plastic and completely natural.

“I love that everything Ellie [Go For Zero founder] offers has been tested, I know it’s not toxic and she’s done the homework to get the most sustainably packaged products too. Even their packages come in a compostable padding and box.”

Mandy’s family of six (including two dogs) has cut back its household waste so much that their wheelie bin only needs collecting every five weeks.

“We do empty it every week,” Mandy laughed. “But composting is part of keeping that rubbish pile down. I’m really proud of how much we recycle, reuse and just don’t buy. If we need something, we try and find an alternative we already own that we could repurpose first.” 

Go For Zero has helped 41,000 households transition to sustainable, natural lifestyle since launching in November 2018. This year it was named Queensland’s best business for promoting sustainability, in the Telstra Best in Business awards. To find out more visit www.goforzero.com.au