We are installing three garden beds at different locations in Fishermans Bend - it's a seat, a garden bed and compost.

We got shortlisted in the Fisherman's Band Digital Innovation Challenge and I invited Michael on board and we did the pitch together.

We won that competition, we won a $90,000 prize. I thought this is a chance to make composting part of everyday life in Australian cities.

In March we did a community workshop at Yarra’s Edge.

We've got these compost champions and they're organising the community. We're giving ownership of this project to the people who need to use it.

The purpose of tonight was to discuss how we can get the community involved in recycling, kitchen waste and green waste rather than consigning it to landfill.

We get a lot of feedback around how they want the worm farm to look like, feel like, and then that helps us to, develop to the criteria what the bench design will look like.

So today we have the first worm bench being installed at ST. ALi Roasters. We will have our second one in Yarra’s Edge, and then the third one will be in front of Susuro Wine Bar - it's a different design. It's a slimmer profile.

So they're like garden furniture, but they're also compost that turns food waste into soil, into nutrients, and reduces food waste at cafes, households and apartments. When people put food waste in, they get rich compost, which is the best fertilizer. Some cafes that have been doing this with, prototypes that I’ve developed have halved their food waste bill. So you can save money by composting food waste.

We have different sets of sensors for the worm health. We have temperature, moisture sensors, worms breathe through their skins, they need 70% 80% of moisture levels. We want to make sure they get comfortable in there, and then we have pH sensors, so help us to monitor if the compost gets too acidic.

What we want to do here is end food waste by showing how easy it is to compost in the street. The fact that Melbourne City Council is going out and thinking about doing composting in the public with this project, just gives me so much respect for the council. I imagine Melbourne being greener, cooler, cheaper. This is not just about compost, this is about how we live in our cities. I want people to reconnect in a village way.

What I really, really want for this project is change people's feeling about composting, making it very easy to use, very beautiful. That's part of nature.

Winners of the 2024 Fishermans Bend Digital Innovation Challenge, Zoe Wang (Upsoil Collective) and Michael Mobbs (The Off Grid Guy), are redefining public composting with Worms at Work – a unique, community-driven solution to divert food waste from landfill.

This winning idea involves designing and developing public street furniture that integrates composting and worm farming to divert food waste. Through clever design, composting becomes visible, simple and shared bringing community together by moving it beyond backyards and into shared spaces.

The compost and nutrient-rich ‘worm juice’ produced will be used by our Business and Community champions for their use on plants and gardens. Smart sensors, have been integrated to capture real-time data on soil health and compost quality, offering valuable insights into the impact of community composting.

The Worms at Work pilot is the result of a collaboration between the City of Melbourne and two creative innovators: Zoe Wang (Upsoil Collective) and Michael Mobbs (The Off Grid Guy).

Zoe and Michael were selected as winners of the Fishermans Bend Digital Innovation Challenge for their composting bench concepts that combine smart design with circular economy principles. Their unique approaches bring together community use, sustainable materials, and environmental education in the form of street furniture.

Together with Council, they are helping prototype and test composting benches in public and semi-public spaces, turning food waste into a local resource and sparking new conversations about urban sustainability.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, behind only China and the United States (FAO, n.d.)

This pilot aligns with the “A Regenerative City” challenge by testing how technology and design can create more circular, resilient, and productive urban spaces. If successful, it could pave the way for new approaches to food waste management in Fishermans Bend and beyond.

City of Melbourne has a history of piloting new ideas and transparently educating and empowering the community. Pilots are useful to explore opportunities and impacts of new ideas with the community to help solve city challenges. A successful pilot encourages community to participate and share thoughts and ideas to help shape the solution and explore if innovations are feasible, viable, and desirable.

This pilot will be split into the following phases:

Phase 1: Defining the Vision (Approx. 2 months)
In this phase, we establish the project's scope, success measures, and evaluation framework. We define what will be delivered, set a preliminary budget, and create a roadmap for the pilot.

Phase 2: Co-Design & Planning (Approx. 4 months)
We engage with the community and key stakeholders to shape the project, finalise the design of the Worms at Work seat, and identify the supporting technology. This phase ensures that both functional and community needs are considered before moving into implementation.

Phase 3: Construct & Implementation (Approx. 5 months)
The seat is manufactured, integrating composting, worm farming, and sensor technology. Once installed at key locations in Fishermans Bend and Yarra’s Edge, the project moves into active operation, with local community members and businesses participating in its maintenance and use. Live data and insights will be shared with the public.

Phase 4: Learning & Next Steps (Approx. 6 months)
We evaluate the pilot’s impact by gathering data, community feedback, and lessons learned. A final report will summarise findings and recommendations, helping determine future opportunities for scaling or adaptation.

In March 2025, we held a community session at Docklands to hear from residents, local gardeners and workers about their hopes for the Worms at Work pilot. Participants shared ideas on keeping the composting seat clean, safe and easy to use—no smells, no pests, and accessible for everyone. They also highlighted the importance of clear instructions and opportunities to learn about composting. These insights have shaped how the benches look, feel and work—from design features to the way people interact with them during the trial.

There are still plenty of ways for you to get involved:

• Join us at community events taking place at the bench locations.
• Try out the benches and learn how the composting system works.
• Share your thoughts and feedback to help us improve the experience.

Follow this page to stay updated on upcoming events, launch details, and other opportunities to get involved.

For questions, you can also contact the team at smart.cities@melbourne.vic.gov.au

Once all the benches have been installed, we will publish dedicated feedback forms.

For questions, you can also contact the team at smart.cities@melbourne.vic.gov.au

With special thanks to:

• Ciro Giuliana from Mr Fox in a Box
• Terence Bergagna, Chelline (Graciella) Soejono and Tina Tran from Polynova
  
• Dave Goodman from Kensington Compost & LOCCAL
  
• Andrew Ligdopoulos from Eighteen Pence Lane Cafe
• Nikki Palun from Susuro Urban Winery
• Lucy Ward and the team at St Ali Coffee Roasters
  
• Krystle, Heather, Carolene, Greg and all the Yarra’s Edge resident ‘pilot champions’
• Byron Fisher from Isteamedu
  
• Alexis Pang from University of Melbourne
• Janette Corcoran from the Owners Corporation Network of Australia Ltd

Digital Innovation Challenges are open competitions supporting innovation and collaboration. They help test digital solutions that tackle important city challenges.

The Worms at Work pilot brings together clever sensor technology and nature to create an intuitive, well-monitored composting experience for everyone. We’re also sharing this data with the community through public dashboards, so everyone can follow the progress of the pilot in real time.

All sensors are long-lasting, and battery powered.

• Dragino LSE01 – Measures soil moisture, electrical conductivity, and temperature.
• Dragino LSPH01 – Measures soil pH and temperature.
• Dragino LAQ4 & Elsys ERS CO2 – Monitor CO2 levels, humidity, and ambient temperature.
• Netvox R718-LB – Reed sensor that detects when the bench seat is opened or closed.
• Digital Matter Yabby Edge – Seat usage sensor that detects small vibrations via an accelerometer when someone sits on the bench.

• Compost moisture
• Compost temperature
• Compost pH
• Compost EC
• Bench Humidity
• Bench Co2
• Ambient temperature
• Seat Usage
• Seat open/close count

All sensors operate on low power wide area network (LoRaWAN) using dedicated City of Melbourne gateways. The data is sent and stored in the City of Melbourne’s data lake.

The data is used by City of Melbourne and the Pilot Collaborators to measure the impacts of the bench designs and inform how we could plan and design food waste management initiatives like this in the future. The data is also shared with the community via the dashboard on this page.

This data is stored permanently for any possible future analysis and for records.