Capital Scrap’s EVs helped their business grow sustainably
Capital Scraps is a social enterprise whose mission is to reduce Canberra’s greenhouse gas emissions by diverting kitchen scraps from landfill.
Founder and manager of Capital Scraps, Brook, bought an EV to help with her business – collecting kitchen scraps and making compost, while maintaining its green credentials.
By choosing an EV, she has avoided the costs and carbon emissions associated with owning and running an internal combustion engine vehicle.
The challenge
“I’ve always been passionate about the environment and, with a PhD on biodegradation, I fully understand the impact that food waste can have on the environment.
“When food waste is left to break down normally, it produces methane. Despite its natural origins, methane is actually a greenhouse gas – in fact it’s about 30 times more potent at warming our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
“Greenhouse gases like methane are causing climate change, but with effective composting we can vastly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from food waste.
“The mission of Capital Scraps is to reduce carbon emissions, so using an internal combustion engine vehicle was always out of the question.
“We’ve got a great electric trike with a big storage compartment out the front on which we’ve been pedalling around the streets of Canberra, collecting food scraps, for years.
“With electric vehicles becoming more common though, I started wondering whether we could get one for our business.
The action
"We've had an electric vehicle in our fleet for the last year, and we love it. EVs work really well for our day-to-day business operations, and everyone enjoys driving it.
"We haven't had to service our electric van yet, but we're looking forward to the reduced maintenance costs of using an electric vehicle.
“So far, the van has been supremely reliable, which is great considering that we purchased it second-hand at auction and it's an older 2013 model. Electric vehicles just have less things that can go wrong.
The benefit
"Our small business is saving over $2000 per year in avoided fuel costs. We charge the electric van with power from our rooftop solar panels at optimal times of the day.
“Another great saving is that we don't have to spend precious staff minutes refuelling a vehicle. The electric van is simply plugged in at the end of a shift.
“The trusty old three-wheeler bike is still going strong and does the bulk of our food scraps collection as it’s so well suited to manoeuvring around driveways and suburban streets, while the new van is great for moving larger quantities of materials.
“Climate change is the biggest existential threat that our natural environment is facing. We need to do whatever we can do to keep fossil fuels in the ground and greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.”
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.