COUNCILLOR John Fry says a trial will start in the CBD soon for a structure he has designed that is street furniture, garden bed, composter and shade provider all in one.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A prototype is now sitting outside Cr Fry's home and he estimates the frame will have vines halfway up it within the next three months.
"My vision is to have these to cool the CBD hot spots where we can't plant trees because of services and pipes that are underground," he said.
"With these pods, we can get the same amount of shade that a tree provides within 12 months."
Cr Fry began working on his prototype after talking to sustainability consultant Michael Mobbs during a visit to Bathurst.
Something similar has been used by City of Sydney council, but Cr Fry has created his own version for Bathurst.
His finished product consists of a steel garden surround that has a garden bed on top, composting pod underneath and a water tank at the bottom.
The garden bed at either end of the unit will grow vines up the sides and over the structure and a seat in the middle, on top of the composting unit, turns the whole thing into a piece of street furniture.
IN OTHER NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
"The composting pod is also a wicking bed," Cr Fry said.
"The water tank, which is a plastic tub, sits underneath the compost pod, which is also a worm bed.
"The water comes up through capillary action into the whole garden bed, so it reduces the amount of water that I'll need to grow all the plants. It stores its own water.
"Of course, when it rains, the underground wicking tank can fill up with water. But I can also put a hose in there and fill it up from my grey water or my tank water.
"So the whole thing will be independent of the council water grid."
Cr Fry said he had funded his prototype himself.
"Council now has a little bit of funding to do some [of the units]," he said.
"The first step I'd like to see is to do them in front of cafes, so the food scraps could go straight into the pods on the footpaths.
"And you could grow food as well in the pods."
He said the idea had also been incorporated into the Town Square Masterplan on a larger scale.
"All the organic waste generated in the town square could go into these pods and we could be growing food where it is consumed," he said.
He hopes to have around six trial units in place around the CBD before Christmas.
"I've talked to several cafe owners and they have all expressed an interest in it," he said.
If the idea takes off, Cr Fry would like to see local materials and local labour being used to create the street furniture units to create local jobs.
"I think we could have a little bespoke industry out of this," he said.
