Gardeners in Bedford Borough Council can receive free compost produced from their local food waste collections as part of a green initiative set up between the Council and waste management company, EnVar.
Residents can pick up free bags of EnRich compost once a week from the Household Waste Recycling Centre on Barkers Lane until October 2012 as an extension of Compost Awareness Week. The soil conditioner is produced from food waste collected in the council’s green waste bins and sent to the EnVar plant in Cambridgeshire, where it slowly decomposes and turns into compost.
This is the second time that free EnRich compost has been given away to Bedford Borough residents. Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, welcomed the return of the scheme: "The Soil Improver scheme was extremely popular last year with local residents taking away more than 400 tonnes of the material in a little over six months. Up to 30 per cent of their household bin is made up of organic waste which can be turned into compost.“ Mayor Hodgson had previously stated that the organic waste to compost agreement with EnVar saves local taxpayers about £100,000 per year.
EnVar claims that liberal applications of the soil conditioning compost will ‘improve drainage, enhance soil-based nutrients and encourage strong growth and root development’ and can be used on vegetable patches, raised beds and flower beds and also as a mulch around shrubs and trees. However, the compost is unsuitable for bedding plants in pots and tubs and ericaceous plants (such as heathers, azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons)
Bedford Borough Council is one of a growing number of councils looking to close the loop in food waste recycling and raise their household recycling levels. Earlier this month, Milton Keynes started selling 60-litre bags of EnRich compost to its residents for £4 a bag (or three for £10) from the Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) at Bleak Hall, Newport Pagnell and New Bradwell.
Dacorum and Essex County Councils have also used their food waste collections to produce EnVar’s EnRich compost for their residents and EnVar is currently under contract to manage the organic waste from Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough, Essex, Milton Keynes and Hertfordshire County Councils.
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