The benefits of home composting
Composting your garden waste and fruit and vegetable scraps at
home is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with this
sort of waste, and is preferable to other methods for the following
reasons:
If organic waste is
sent to landfill, it contributes to the production of
greenhouse gases such as methane which lead to climate change,
in addition to the emissions caused by collecting it and
transporting it there.
- If organic waste is burnt on bonfires, the smoke it produces
pollutes the air and can be a nuisance to neighbours.
- If organic waste is treated properly at a central composting
facility, it still needs to be collected and transported.
Producing your own compost at home has other benefits. It
provides a free compost you can use on the garden and so reduces
the need to buy peat products. Peat bogs are a fragile wildlife
habitat, 94% of which has been destroyed in this country in order
to meet the demand for peat products. Peat and compost products for
sale often come pre-packaged, contributing to more waste. Also, if
you make your own compost, you know exactly what has gone into
it.
Follow this link for
more advice about composting at home (new
window) on the RecycleNow website or call their
composting helpline on 0845 600 0323.
Excess garden waste that you can't manage at home can also be
taken to the
household waste recycling centres (new
window) at Felixstowe, Foxhall and Leiston. This waste is
shredded and composted at Foxhall to produce Green Top soil
improver.
Green Top can be purchased in 20kg bags from all the household
waste recycling centres, except Foxhall, at the cost of £1.50 per
bag. At Foxhall, you have to take your own bags where the cost is
£1 per bag, shovels are provided for your convenience. Larger loads
can be collected from Foxhall or delivered by arrangement. Follow
this link for
more details about Green Top (new
window).
Subsidised compost bin offers
The latest Suffolk councils' subsidised compost bin offer closed
on 30 September 2009. Details of new compost bin
offers for 2010 will be published here later in the
year.