The Community Rescuing Food Waste From Landfill to Make Beautiful Compost | Ben & bEartha

'Ben & bEartha: A Community's Compost Love Story' is a free 40-minute sustainability documentary following the highs and lows of a passionate community as they attempt to tackle the issue of food waste going to landfill. Their solution? A composting machine called bEartha and a small-scale, sustainable approach that produces beautiful soil.

In this documentary we get to know Ben and Bertha – a compost nerd and the machine he’s designed to revolutionise regional composting. If compost isn’t your thing yet, here’s a story that might surprise you into a passion for kitchen scraps and microbes. And if composting’s already one of your great loves – because compost practitioners do seem to really LOVE compost – then we reckon this community-focused story is going to stir up your compost passion!

*More about Community Compost*

*More about Happen Films*
We make short and feature-length documentaries, all about permaculture, resilience and sustainability.

*Subtitles*

*Thank you!*
We are forever grateful to everyone who supports us financially to make our films – we can’t do this without the regular donations we receive that range from $1 a month and make all the difference.

These awesome folk support us on Patreon: John Braman, Andi Begerl, Chris and Kristen, Matthew Burdett, Kelle McNamara, Jacqueline Hicks, Dennis Lange, Teresa R., Dave Evans, Julian Maher, Mary Conlan, Greg and Rachel Hart, Brian Newton, Lauren, Kirti Patel, Carolyn Gillum, V.J. Raghavan, Geoffrey Torkington, Tiitus Laine, Rex and Jo, Sankar Madhavan, Pierre Blom, Kelly & Peter Osmond.

And a huge thank you to the incredible folk at Biome Trust for their generous long-term support for Happen Films.

[CanadianPermacultureLegacy]

We need more people connected to the beautiful closed loop of compost. I also can't believe how fun composting can be. Something about turning waste into gold - once it sinks deep in you, you never are the same again.

[patriciachippendale]

Hi I clean a supermarket everyday and the amount of food that I bring home is crazy my dogs and chickens get fead and my compost are great I have been doing this for about 8 years thanks for sharing

[blacksusan]

As a solitary home composter, I was impressed by the heat generated by your original system. You should all be really proud of what you've achieved and the example you've set. Inspirational!

[rubeshere]

Many kudos Ben! I had no idea there was a bEartha 2.0. I didn't even know there was a fundraiser! I was very happy to help in my small way (way back when) and I would've gladly helped again if I had known. And still willing to help!

You are truly an inspiration and I am always singing your praises and trying to get the world to compost as much as possible.

Congratulations on this wonderful milestone. One of many to come!

[lizcox]

As a local, growing, composting non-profit in the US, I couldn't agree more that it is disappointing that government is so far behind and are even hinderances to something that citizens are crying out for. We are trying our best to get past local ordinances to compost, find funding and land as well. It can be very disheartening.
So thankful that your video popped up and who will probably be in touch soon. We are currently using CMC composting with a tractor as we do NOT want to be doing forced-air industrial style. Love that you guys are staying true to composting purity.

[barbarashikongo]

Inspiring community project, thank you bEartha and Happen Film. May we see more communities doing this and central and local government funding it. Well done all. 🐝

[bethhubbs]

15:17 - now I see why it's called a Love Story. I would love to see this in my own town. Very inspiring. Thank you Ben and team for modeling this for others and to Happen Films for sharing this story.

[amber]

Compost heroes indeed! Beautiful! Thank you for creating, documenting, and sharing such an important and inspiring journey! There needs to be a bEartha in every town and community.

[sharonadlam]

Ben, you are definitely a hero. Jordan and Antoinette thank you for bringing us another amazing doco.

[rudyleal]

He is absolutely adorable and so dedicated. We compost all of our food and garden stuff. We have several beds in our big garden where we grow our veggies and fruit. Its so satisfying to produce a lot of our own soil

[happenfilms]

Hey everyone! If you enjoyed this film please share the link! By sharing with your network you’re helping this film reach as many people as possible. Let’s inspire many more composting initiatives to pop up around the world!

[futurecaredesign]

I was happily surprised by the consistent use of 'her' and 'she' when talking about Beartha. Some would call it animism; the belief that places, things, groups, etc can have souls or spirits. Others might say that's bonkers. Either might be true.

But what is CERTAINLY true is that if you name your toaster Gerard, you are much more likely to repair him when he breaks. Instead of just chucking Gerard in the trash and buying his replacement. It is very important for us humans to start building relationships with the things around us in a way that makes us take care of them.

[c.r.p.]

So inspirational! Are you aware of Karl Hammer's work at Vermont Compost in USA? He composts food waste similarly using 700+ chickens. The 'machinery' are live animals that produce organic eggs to sell and eventually meat.

[lukerosspost]

It was a pleasure to colour grade this documentary - great work team! Inspirational story 🔥🔥

[leoscheibelhut]

Very inspiring! And so important that you didn't downplay the tremendous obstacles you had to overcome.

[helenmcgill]

Thank you Happen Films for making such an inspirational story once again. Ben and his team deserve so much gratitude and thanks for doing what every town should be doing! You’re hard work is definitely appreciated and hopefully will be taken note of by local councils and shires, (I’m in Western Australia).

[ReflectionsofLife]

Beautiful film well done guys - very inspiring. The world really needs to watch this. 💚

[Kara_]

I love Ben’s passion and enthusiasm. 😊
I am really surprised though that apparently New Zealand hasn’t got public services for differentiated waste retrieval and processing? But that’s coming from a Dutchie who is used to this.
Thanks for creating and sharing!

[CaitlinFaulks]

A truly inspiring story, I’m in tears! I dream of a community like this in Australia which I could participate in. Well done Community Compost NZ team 💜

[janineogg]

Beautiful, inspiring story thank you. Can't wait to see momemtum keep building in our community for a similar vision, all the seeds are there already and this kind of storytelling gives us motivation to keep going and to push the envelope.