Waste company donates compost to growers

Green-fingered staff from Viridors Household Waste Recycling Site (HWRS) in West Sussex marking the start of International Compost Awareness Week by donating compost to Stopham Plotters Association - picture submitted

‘Reclaim’ is a soil conditioning product made from the garden waste taken to the county’s waste 11 recycling plants.

To mark the start of International Compost Awareness Week this week, the Stopham Plotters Association, which has recently taken over the running of the ‘Grow Your Own Plots’ allotment site behind Pulborough Garden Centre, received 10 tonnes of the product.

Armed with spades and barrows, Viridor staff and allotment holders worked together to make a new raised bed at the entrance of the allotment site using the Reclaim material.

This was then transformed into a fully planted bee-friendly flower bed by the children of St Mary’s CofE Aided Primary School in Pulborough who came along to help make the day a truly community event.

Viridor’s education and customer relations manager Jen Hake said: “It’s great to show what can be achieved by recycling West Sussex’s very own garden waste.

“Manufacturing Reclaim compost from garden waste is a practical example of a close loop system which also supports buying locally too.”

Sian Whiteley of the Stopham Plotters said: “We are grateful to Viridor for helping us with this project. We have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of Reclaim too.

“We’d like to thank Pulborough Garden Centre for donating the plants and the children of St. Mary’s for helping settle them into their new home in our raised bed.”

Nick Hawthorn, director of Olus and Heritage Products, which works with Virodor to produce the compost, said “We are happy to donate the Sleepers and Compost to this community project.

“Creating compost from the green waste that comes into us is a key part of diverting waste from Landfill. The compost produced is of the highest quality and meets all PAS 100 Standards.”

West Sussex’s HWRS in Hop Oast, Horsham, and Billingshurst are open from 8am to 7pm weekdays and from 9pm to 7pm on weekends. Reclaim soil conditioner is available at both sites.

Garden waste such as shrub prunings, branches, grass cuttings, leaves, weeds and anything else residents do not have the room to compost at home are all accepted free of charge at the 11 HWRSs in partnership with West Sussex County Council.

Some 29,023 tonnes of garden waste was received across West Sussex’s HWRSs and composted last year and made into ‘Reclaim’ soil conditioner which has been awarded the quality standard PAS 100.