Throughout the week, people stop by Brook Clinton's house and leave food scraps at her door.

Key points: The Hackett Compost Collective helps people share their food scraps and compost

The Hackett Compost Collective helps people share their food scraps and compost Zero waste living is increasingly popular, aided by the ShareWaste app that links composters

Zero waste living is increasingly popular, aided by the ShareWaste app that links composters Canberra is holding its first Zero Waste Festival this weekend

These are not acts of vandalism, but rather part of a system created by the Canberra resident to reduce the amount of food waste ending up in landfill.

It's part of the Hackett Compost Collective, where household food scraps are handed over to Ms Clinton to be turned into compost instead of thrown into the bin.

But her goal goes much further than that — armed with a trike big enough to cart compost around the city's northern suburbs, she wants to eliminate the need for rubbish bins.

"We have the technology right now that we can take care of all our food scraps in an urban environment in a really positive way," Ms Clinton said.

"Because food waste is such a large proportion of what goes into our red-lidded bins, we could probably eliminate those as well."

Sharing waste reduces the 'mental load'

A giant thermometer is required to measure the temperature of the three compost bins in Ms Clinton's backyard.

Canberra resident Brook Clinton takes deliveries of household food scraps which she converts to compost. ( ABC News: Niki Burnside )

When everything is going right, the piles of food and dried leaves can reach more than 70 degrees Celsius, which is exactly what she wants to hear.

"Food and other organic material is the biggest problem in landfill in terms of greenhouse gases," she said.

"What happens in a traditional landfill is everything's kind of compressed down and buried and no air can get in — you get a process of fermentation happening which means a lot of methane is produced."

Done right, compost removes greenhouse gases and drastically reduces waste, and with landfill costing the economy an estimated $20 billion a year, the benefits a multiplied.

Ms Clinton is just one of many people around Australia now taking their neighbours' waste, many of them now signed on to the app ShareWaste.

Already working two part-time jobs, for Ms Clinton, it is a labour of love.

Many people already deal with their food waste by composting at home, but Ms Clinton said she believed she was cutting through to those who did not want to compost their waste, or were unable to.

She said it was just one way to help people overcome the "mental load" of sustainability — all those wanting to do the right thing, but struggling to take the step and find a way.

As the initiative has grown, she has started asking people to consider a donation in exchange, but the goal is social change, rather than profit.

And in addition to those households who hand over their waste, there are at least 30 more who take her compost to add to their gardens — completing the circle.

"I just really like the process of making compost," she said.

"At certain points, at first, I would have too much compost being produced and I'd have to find people to use it, but now word's got out and I don't have that problem anymore."

Living zero waste means keeping it small

Sharing waste like compost is becoming increasingly popular. ( Pixabay )

This weekend will mark Canberra's first Zero Waste Festival, an event put together by a group of Canberrans who run the Zero Waste Revolution.

The group's chair Mia Swainson said they were tapping into a spike in interest from people looking to take responsibility for their waste.

"There's enormous interest," she said.

"The reason why we're doing this is to inspire people to take the step towards living zero waste and that's why we've got all these practical ideas and tips and tricks.

"And there's no guilt involved, it's about taking that step — feeling good about the things you're doing, and not guilty about the things you're not."

Ms Swainson said their first sold-out festival event was one aimed at showing people how to halve their household waste.

"It sounds like such a dry title, but I think people are just really interested," she said.

"I think China deciding to change their import requirements, that's sparked people's interest, and also the realisation that plastic is not going to go away — it's going to be around for generations.

"This is about how to help people find out what they can do to make a difference."

She said the movement went against the instinct to take things to a higher level and wait for the government to step in to solve social issues like waste.

The idea behind the zero-waste revolution, the group believes, is to prevent large-scale processing and to keep it local.

Ms Clinton agreed, saying once vehicles were required to dispose of household waste, the benefits were lost.

The seed now laid, the plan is for more composters to get involved around town, helping to take the waste others want to share.

Canberra's Zero Waste Festival: National Museum of Australia, Saturday September 7, 11:00-15:00

Hackett Compost Collective: www.compost.org.au