Buy Back Your Garden Waste

West Sussex homes can now buy back their garden waste as genuine organic compost called Reclaim Organic Soil Conditioner.

Household waste recycling sites are now producing bags of organic compost for sale. So far 56,000 tonnes of green waste from gardens in West Sussex have been processed into organic compost. This is an example of how recycling can effectively ‘close the loop’. The green waste from your garden can be taken to your nearest household waste recycling site or collected from your kerbside. It then goes into a local composting plant, where it is processed and bagged ready for sale at household waste recycling sites. The loop is closed when the compost is spread back onto the garden.

This is a great example of how waste can be turned into a useable product which in this case will enrich your garden with an organic product that is local in every sense of the word.

It is available at 10 out of 11 Household Waste Recycling Sites in West Sussex:
· Billingshurst
· Bognor Regis
· Burgess Hill
· Crawley
· East Grinstead, via Imberhorne lane nurseries adjacent to the site
· Horsham
· Littlehampton
· Midhurst
· Shoreham
· Westhampnett, Chichester
Worthing is expected to be complete by the end of 2008

Please let us know of other areas that are offering a similar service around the country.

Composting

To make good compost you will need to have a mixture of green and brown materials. Green materials contain a high percentage of nitrogen and breakdown quickly; brown materials contain a high percentage of carbon and breakdown slowly. Aim for a 50/50 mix of both wet greens and dry browns. For example, for every caddyful of fruit and vegetable peelings you add, match it with a caddyful of scrunched paper and cardboard packaging.
It can take approximately 6-9 months to make your compost. Finished compost is a dark brown, almost black. It has a spongy texture and is rich in nutrients. Spreading finished compost into your flowerbeds greatly improves soil quality by helping it retain moisture and suppressing weeds.



Tip: If your compost heap tends to be wet & smelly, add more browns; if it is dry, add some greens.

Compost Materials

Compost Greens
Annual Weeds, Bracken Leaves, Cabbage, Citrus Peel, Comfrey Leaves, Cut Flowers, Grass cuttings, Green pruning, Lettuce/salad trimmings, Manure, Old Bedding plants, Potato tops, Rhubarb leaves, Seaweed, Straw, Tea bags/leaves, Vegetable/fruit peelings, Weeds without seeds

Compost Browns
Cardboard, Coffee grounds, Egg boxes, Egg shells, Feathers, Hair, Hay, Kitchen paper, Newspaper, Paper bags, Pet bedding from herbivorous pets, Shredded garden waste, Shredded paper, Spent perennial stems, Wood ash, Carpet dust, Wood shavings, Charcoal (cold)

Materials to avoid
Butter, oil and dressing, Bread, Cigarette ends, Cooked food leftovers, Crisp packets, Coal ashes, Dairy products, Diseased or insect infested plants, Fatty/oily foods including cheese, Human Faeces, Meat, bones and fish scraps, Pet Waste (cat and dog), perennial roots, Plant or grass clippings treated with chemicals, Rose prunings/thorny materials, Weeds with mature seeds.