Community Composting
Community composting can be anything from individuals or small groups working on allotment sites or promoting home composting, to social enterprises with Local Authority contracts providing kerbside collection services.
The schemes usually exist as 'clubs' where members have their green waste materials collected and pay a token fee for the finished compost product. They are ‘not for profit’ businesses. Comminity composters only collect non-hazardous wastes and usually operate under Waste Management Licence Exemption certificates. To find out more about community composting visit the Community Composting Network (CCN).
Points to consider if you want to start a community composting scheme.
- Aims and quantity How big do you want your scheme to be? Do you want to collect from your local community or allotment or are you thinking of a larger borough or district wide scheme?
- Market research This is vital to find out who is interested and also to get an idea of how much material you will be collecting.
- Space This will determine the amount of material you can collect and therefore the limiting size of your project. Different methods of composting can be used if the site is small, e.g. shredding two or three times increases the speed of the composting process, reducing the need for a long maturation period.
- Self sufficiency Small allotment groups with keen volunteers will continue as long as there are volunteers and green waste. Projects in cities and deprived areas, initially set up with grant money, will continue to require funding as they find it the most difficult to become self sufficient. Larger schemes able to charge for a high quality product and able to accept larger quantities of green waste for a fee as well as collect recycling credits are the most likely to become self sufficient.
- How will you collect material? Householders generally collect their garden waste in sacks as they are easy to collect and replace. Biodegradable sacks are perhaps an expense which can be passed on to willing club members but can only be used once and as such are not good value. Hessian sacks are good value, most lasting approximately a year before being added to the compost heap, but you will need space to dry them out if they have been left out in the rain before collection. Old plastic fertiliser or compost sacks can be reused but are not so environmentally friendly when they come to the end of their useful career.
- Collection vehicle A wheelbarrow might be sufficient on an allotment but if you are planning on collecting from houses you will want to hold more material. Ex milk floats have been successfully used in several projects.
- Surroundings Your proposed site should not be closer than 250 m to any dwellings. The further away the better. Even the keenest composters do not want neighbours creating noise and odour pollution. Litter and bioaerosols can also be undesirable composting by-products. Access is another consideration as is proximity to a water course. You will need your compost covered and/or storm water collection tanks if you are anywhere near controlled water which could become polluted.
- Equipment For a small scheme, minimal equipment will be required: a few bays and a shovel will suffice. You might have problems with rats and then opt for a concrete base. For medium size projects shredding is probably the best option. New good quality shredders are able to cope with green waste as opposed to wood chipping (i.e. they do not keep clogging up) and start from approximately £40,000. There are several shredders to rent in the region which you will find through either the Northumberland and Durham Machinary Ring or via our members search facility. This is also the easiest way to have your material screened. Better to rent until you are of sufficient size to justify spending your grant money on something you will then use daily or in turn rent out to others. When you are ready to buy ask for a demonstration with your materials before making a decision.
- Experience and Training Community composters are generally helpful bunch and keen to share their knowledge. If you haven’t already worked on a composting facility, contact a local scheme and ask if you can go along to learn the ropes.
All the above points and more are covered in greater detail in the downloadable CCN guide 'Mucking In'.
For anyone already involved with or seriously considering setting up a community composting project 'The Community Composting Guide' produced by the CCN and published in September 2004 is a fully comprehensive and up-to-date guide to all aspects of Community Composting and highly recommended reading. It is available by post; to order a copy contact the CCN.
For the most comprehensive guide to funding opportunities for Community Composting visit the CCN funding page.
Thanks to the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers ' Rotters' scheme at Barnard Castle for advice for community composters.
