Sunday 25 May 2014

Britain forgets the art of composting

Oxfordshire Master Composters investigate worm composting

A recent survey by BusinessWaste suggests that 97% of UK households* don’t compost and that many Britons have never knowingly composted food or garden waste. Even more worrying is their finding that most British households throw compostable waste straight into the bin, even if council collection facilities exist, meaning that thousands of tons of unused food goes directly to landfill or incineration every year.

"We already know that 15 million tons of perfectly good food is wasted every year," BusinessWaste.co.uk spokesperson Mark Hall says, "And a fair proportion of this could easily be composted, either at home or by councils."

According to the survey, many people cite lack of time, lack of gardening skill, or lack of motivation for doing so, but this does mean there's plenty of scope for Master Composters to show people that composting is easy and needn't be time-consuming at all!

There are huge environmental benefits to be gained from home composting, which turns waste products into useable 'fuel' for your garden! BusinessWaste have put together a basic Home Composting FAQ, but if you want some help to get started (or to keep composting) then contact your local council to get in touch with a local Master Composter. If you live in Oxfordshire then contact the Oxfordshire Master Composters - we're happy to help!


*These results are based a survey of 3015 households.