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, while bringing people together and creating a sense of pride and ownership.

The compost and nutrient-rich ‘worm juice’ produced will be shared with the local community for their use on plants and gardens. Technology, like sensors, will also be integrated to provide real-time data on soil health and food waste levels, offering valuable insights into the impact of community composting.

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. 1 month)
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.

There will be three benches installed as part of this pilot. One will be managed by a group of community champions in Yarra’s Edge, and two will be managed by two participating businesses in Fishermans Bend.

We’re installing composting benches at three select locations in Fishermans Bend and Yarra’s Edge. These include both public areas and in the proximity of local businesses who are champions in this pilot. Keep an eye out on this page for updates and the final location reveal.

They will be installed in August. Each location may be slightly different, so we’ll share updates here as the installations happen. Whether it’s a suggestion, a maintenance issue or something else, we’d love to hear from you.

The Worms at Work pilot brings together clever sensor technology and nature to create an intuitive, well-monitored composting experience for everyone. We’re embedding weight sensors to track how much organic waste is being diverted from landfill and how much nutrient-rich compost the worms produce in return.

To help keep the worms and their soil environment healthy, we’re introducing a suite of sensors into the composting benches to monitor moisture, temperature, and pH levels. This data will support worm wellbeing, and provide gardeners with valuable insights to help them manage compost more effectively and keep the system thriving.

We’re also exploring ways to share this data with the community through public dashboards, so everyone can follow the progress of the pilot in real time.

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 are now helping shape how the bench will look, feel and work—from its design features to the way people interact with it during the trial.

Click ‘Follow’ to get notified about project updates. You can also reach out to us with any comments or questions at smart.cities@melbourne.vic.gov.au

You can get involved by:

• Posting an idea or question to the Ideas Wall below.
• Registering to this page to receive updates and invitation to the pilot launch events.

For more information email smart.cities@melbourne.vic.gov.au

As we install the benches, we will publish dedicated feedback forms.