About Us
Waste from here. Food for here.
Every bag and bottle of Uncle Bob's starts as something most people throw away.
Uncle Bob's is the garden brand of Hungry Worms — a Canterbury company on a simple but stubborn mission: keep New Zealand's food and green waste out of landfill, and turn it back into something that feeds the land it came from.
The loop — and why it matters
Each week we collect food and green waste from some of New Zealand's most recognisable places — Mitre 10, Sudima Hotels, Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, The Russley Village and Ballantynes. Waste that would otherwise sit in landfill, releasing methane as it breaks down, instead comes to our worms.
There, millions of composting worms do what they've done for millions of years: they turn that waste into rich, living, 100% natural plant food. No synthetic chemicals. No imported fillers. No greenwashing — just proof you can hold in your hand.
That's a closed loop: waste becomes resource, resource grows food, and the cycle begins again.
This is about more than gardens
We think a lot about food security. Most of New Zealand's fertiliser is shipped in from the other side of the world — which means the food on our plates depends on supply chains we don't control. Every batch of Uncle Bob's is made right here, from waste created right here. When you grow with it, you're growing food the way it was meant to be grown: naturally, locally, and with real nutrition in the soil — not the hollow yield of chemical‑fed crops.
It's a small act with a big idea behind it: a more self‑reliant, more food‑secure New Zealand, one garden at a time.
Proudly part of Hungry Worms
Uncle Bob's is how we bring the closed loop home to your garden. Hungry Worms is the engine behind it — working with businesses, councils and communities across New Zealand to close the loop at scale.
Learn more about the bigger picture at Hungry Worms
Our impact so far
10,658 kg of food & green waste diverted from landfill
26,645 kg of CO₂e avoided — about 5.8 cars off the road for a year
100% New Zealand‑made, closed‑loop plant food