Gardeners - it's time to spontaneously compost!

Recycle for Greater Manchester would like to encourage keen gardeners across the region to home compost some of their food and garden waste to save them money and help the environment, whilst they watch their gardens flourish.

Almost half of the food waste in your rubbish bin can be composted, so instead of throwing it away, turn it into a valuable and natural resource for your garden. If you have not got a compost bin already, why not get one and start to use it this Spring.

Composting this organic waste at home, is a simple and cost effective way of producing a soil enrichment product for your garden, and also helps to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill. It will help improve the condition of your soil, suppress plant disease and produce better plants and flowers in your borders, hanging baskets, window boxes and vegetable plots.

It’s simple because you can home compost so many readily available household waste items including; egg shells, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, egg boxes, coffee grounds and teabags, as well as sawdust, cardboard and wood shavings. Remember the food that you can’t put in your home compost bin can go in the food and garden recycling bin for collection by your local Council, which takes all raw and cooked food and garden waste.  It will then be taken to one of our In-Vessel Composting facilities for conversion into compost.

Anyone with outside space can compost at home using a compost bin, so why not start now with those early season grass cuttings, shrub prunings, hedge trimmings, everyday food waste and even vacuum cleaner contents from your spring clean.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Chair of Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA), said:  “Approximately 50% of the waste you throw away is organic waste, so if you have a garden why not compost it instead and use this simple, low cost, natural process to turn every day food and garden waste into a nutritious fertiliser for your garden. We encourage people to use their compost bin for the suitable food and garden waste, as this reduces the carbon impact by decreasing the waste that is transported from people’s homes to the recycling facility. Home composting has real environmental benefits, produces excellent results and it’s free."

To encourage home composting, Greater Manchester Councils in partnership with getcomposting.com are offering home compost bins for as little as £16.98 plus delivery – less than half the recommended retail price of £39. There is also a ‘Buy One Get One Half Price’ offer, adding extra value to residents with larger gardens or those who team up with a friend or neighbor to buy a bin.

To see what’s available in your local area call 0844 571 4444 or look online at www.getcomposting.com.  Simply enter your postcode to find the best deal for you.

Why not visit the Recycle for Greater Manchester website at http://www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com/composting/at-home for a step by step guide to home composting, how to get the best results, plus useful hints and tips on how and where to use the compost you have made.

Look out also for the launch of a new low cost, blended multi- purpose compost product made from household food and garden waste, soon to be available from the weighbridge facility at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre.

ENDS

Issued by GMWDA: 7 May 2013.