Press release - May 18, 2010 09:00 AM

Compost giveaways encourage people to give it a grow

Local residents snapped up nearly 30 tonnes of peat-free compost from SITA Cornwall’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) over the past fortnight, as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of composting.

Cornish recyclers who visited St. Erth, United Mines, Connon Bridge or Bude HWRCs were rewarded with a bag of free compost, in exchange for their green waste. The compost was generously donated by the Green Waste Company and TT Compost Ltd who produce the compost from the green waste collected at the HWRCs.

Throughout the giveaway, members of the Cornwall Council Waste Awareness team and a representative from WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) were present to offer advice on composting, encouraging people to ‘Give it a grow’. SITA UK’s Education Officer in Cornwall was also on hand to provide information about diverting waste from landfill by reducing, reusing and recycling.

Ben Lake, Marketing and Development Manager for TT Compost Ltd said: “The giveaway was a great opportunity to show people an example of closed loop recycling in Cornwall. It has been a huge success and we hope it will encourage people to bring their green waste to the HWRCs so that it can be turned into this quality end-product!”

John Richards, Director of the Green Waste Company added: “A lot of people may be unaware of what happens to their recycling when they bring it to the HWRCs across the county. This event has helped to educate the Cornish public in the value of taking part in recycling and the importance of diverting waste from landfill.”

Over the past year nearly 20,000 tonnes of green waste was taken to SITA Cornwall’s HWRCs by members of the public for composting. From here the green waste is shredded, composted, screened and graded at the Green Waste Company’s composting farm near Hayle and Tinten Manor Farm, near St Tudy.

Left to right: Martin Johnson of Green Waste Company, Julia Pollard of WRAP, SITA UK’s Education and Community Officer in Cornwall Laura Bosworth and Cornwall Council’s Waste Awareness Advisor Richard Haycock with the bags of free compost at St. Erth HWRC.