News - Jun 4, 2025 Blending Theory and Practice: Composting Training

When it comes to learning how to manage a composting facility, a hands-on approach can make all the difference. The feedback from participants of our recent “Operation of Medium-Scale Compost Facilities in the Pacific and Timor Leste” training proves just that.

Typical compost systems in the Pacific and Timor-Leste are generally processing one tonne of organic material per day and commonly have limited mechanical support.

This differs from compost training resources available from other regions – typically aimed at either the home/community scale, or large-scale facilities (10+ tonnes per day) – and processing different material with different equipment.

Seeing the need for specific training support for our region, PacWastePlus designed the “Operation of Medium-Scale Compost Facilities in the Pacific and Timor-Leste”, containing classroom and hands-on exercises made for composting in the Pacific context.

This course has now been delivered to 102 government representatives and private sector operators in seven countries: Cook Islands, Kiribati, FSM (Chuuk), Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.  An additional online session was held with 20 participants from FSM (Chuuk and Pohnpei), Fiji, and Tonga.

Participants praised the training for its combination of classroom learning and practical exercises, highlighting how it allowed for a deeper understanding of the concepts.

“I got to see, feel, and smell what has been shared and learnt in class.” This hands-on experience helped them connect theory to practice in a meaningful way, making the composting process come to life.” Said Tio Tamiane, USP Student, Kiribati.

Lorina Qica, Lautoka City Council, Fiji reflected, “Some learn better with either practical or theory, this provided both. Having an in-and-out style allowed for repetition for better understanding.” This approach made the learning process more engaging, with participants able to repeat and reinforce what they had learned, ensuring that the knowledge stuck.

While the training focused on operating medium-scale composting facilities, participants were able to relate the lessons. Many mentioned how the principles they learned could easily be applied at home or within their local communities.

Andrew Hoskings, Mauke Moments, Cook Islands said “I can relate how it’s easy to make my compost at home on a small scale compared to the site where machinery are used.”

This is exactly what we hoped for—empowering individuals to not only manage medium-scale composting operations but also integrate composting practices into their daily routines, no matter the scale.

All training resources and a video of online training will be available to download from the SPREP and PacWastePlus websites shortly.

The training was delivered by Tonkin + Taylor International with support by the PacWastePlus programme.