Volunteers Sought for Home Composting Trial

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Council wants residents to take part in pilot scheme to reduce food waste

Wandsworth Council says home composting can help reduce carbon emissions

Wandsworth Council needs more people to become home composters as part of a pilot project to test the effectiveness of schemes that divert food and other green organic waste away from household waste collections.

A hundred volunteers are needed and over 70 local residents have already stepped forward.

Every household taking part will be given free compost kits and asked to use it for all their suitable food and garden waste. As well as a compost bin, volunteer households will be given digital luggage scales, an internal kitchen caddy and a ‘bag for life’ to allow them to weigh their food and garden waste.

By weighing how much they put in their compost bin each week, the council can evaluate how effective a wider scheme would be in diverting organic waste away from binbags.

At this stage volunteers are sought from households with gardens and enough space to store an appropriately sized compost bin. People interested in taking part in the pilot scheme should email homecomposting@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

Residents who don’t wish to take part in the scheme but would like to begin composting at home can visit www.getcomposting.com and enter their Wandsworth postcode for great deals on a range of products.

This home composting trial is running in tandem with a separate food collection initiative involving 2,300 homes in Southfields.

Home composting is not only good for the environment it also helps support gardeners by creating high quality compost that returns nutrients to the soil.

Environment spokesman Cllr Steffi Sutters said, “This composting trial is just one of the ideas we are looking at to see how we can better deal with the ever-growing mountain of waste produced by modern-day living

“We have always supported residents who want to compost and encouraged households to do so by negotiating special deals with manufacturers so that residents can buy compost bins and kits at a discount.

“We know that over the years many homes have taken advantage of this scheme and their gardens have certainly benefited as a result. Now we want to take this a step further and see if this process can be scaled up and whether or not much more widespread composting would be viable with council support.

“If you are interested in taking part in our trial please do come forward and let us know.”

The pilot scheme is one of the elements of the Wandsworth Environment and Sustainability Strategy (WESS).

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August 27, 2021