Amber Valley Borough Council in Partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), were recently out and about meeting residents in Kilburn, Derbyshire. The venue was Derbyshire County Council’s mobile library and the aim of the event was to raise awareness and participation levels of home composting.
The event was held as part of the Composting Awareness Week, a national initiative that raises the profile of home composting. Cheryl Woodruff, WRAP’s Home Composting Advisor for Derbyshire was on hand to offer advice and promote special offers. Paul Pearce-Burton, Amber Valley Borough Council’s Recycling Communication Officer was also on hand to talk to residents about recycling and waste minimisation.
Amber Valley is keen to promote recycling and waste minimisation so as to divert household waste from landfill. Home composting is an excellent method of reducing the amount of waste that would otherwise be placed in the resident’s wheeled bin. Some items that can be composted are fruit and vegetable peelings, teabags, cardboard egg boxes, coffee grounds, grass cuttings and hedge trimmings. Home composting reduces pollution, as fewer transport emissions are produced when removing less waste from a resident’s house. In addition, methane emissions and toxic liquid effluent that are produced when biodegradable waste decomposes in landfill is reduced. And, after about a year ‘free’ garden compost is available for the householder to use in their garden.
To landfill waste is unsustainable, environmentally damaging and it is becoming more expensive. Amber Valley Borough Council strongly recommends that home composting is an ideal method to minimise waste placed out for collection. Amber Valley Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council has teamed up with WRAP to offer discounted compost bins from as little as £8. You can order your discounted compost bin online by visiting www.recyclenow.com/compost, or by telephoning 08450770757.
From figures for 2005/06, Amber Valley Borough Council is in the top third of councils for its recycling rate and is in the best fifty for the amount of waste collected per person. This was acknowledged recently in an Audit Commission inspection letter, which said, “The volume of waste collected has reduced substantially and is now among the best nationally.” The figures for 2006/07 look like being even better because between April and December 2006 residents recycled nearly 8,000 tonnes of their waste – that’s a 24.7% recycling rate. This is a fantastic achievement, made even better by the fact that the cost of the waste collection service per household is the lowest in the East Midlands.
Did you know on average each UK household produces over 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 31 million tonnes for the UK each year.* On average, every person in the UK throws away their own body weight in rubbish every 7 weeks.**
Press release ends.
Editor’s notes:
* & ** Sources on request
If you would like further information regarding this press release please contact Paul Pearce-Burton:
paul.pearce-burton@ambervalley.gov.uk
01773 570222 Ext: 2532
Ends
News release issued by the Council’s Policy and Change Unit (01773 841655)
