Garden And Gardener

Everything for the Gardener and their Garden

Free compost

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Apparently several councils have been doing this as one-offs but Swansea have been doing this regularly!

Free garden compost is now available to all Swansea residents from the Tir John Community Recycling Site.

“Swansea City Council is well up sto speed on re-cyling stuff” says Bill who lives there.
“We have a huge Civil Amenities Centre (Dump) where all the composted waste
is there for us to take. There isn’t a limit to the amount we can take, but
if you chose your time carefully you can help youself in relative hassle
free comfort. It is a very popular place though.
One thing you have to put up with is some shredded re-cycling bags mixed in
with the compost, it does rake out quite well when spread.”

York has several dates available – Local residents will have access to free compost this summer thanks to the City of York Council and Yorwaste Ltd.
The compost can be collected from Yorwaste’s Harewood Whin site, on Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road on various dates. Please check!

Lancaster did it at the start of May – free compost from Williamson Park in Lancaster – we’ve emailed to find out if it’ll be repeated.

As did Exeter – one day for free compost

Ards borough council – The free compost will be on offer at the Waste Recycling Centre, North Road, Newtownards from Monday 17th May for as long as stocks last.

Uttlesford District Council To Hand Out Free Compost Bags To Residents – various dates.

Slough council take them to a local charity garden centre where anyone can collect them free. Find out about Slough’s free compost offer here

Free compost

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

This definietly deserves a mention! I’ve been making enquiries recently with local authorities about what happens to the material that the public send away for composting. In Cambrideshire they have an amazing scheme!

Donarbon makes the soil improver they produce through our in-vessel composting system available for the public to collect free of charge at their 3 main sites in Cambridgeshire. These sites are:

Near the main entrance to the Waterbeach Waste Management Park
At the Alconbury Waste Transfer Station
At the March Waste Transfer Station

You will need to take your own spade or shovel and sacks or a small trailer. The free soil improver is available at the following times:

At Waterbeach from 8 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am to 1 pm Saturday.
At the Alconbury and March Waste Transfer Stations from 8 am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
For more information about the free compost visit the Donarbon Site

I’m really impressed by this scheme! It’s a great way for people to get free soil conditioning compost!

Perth and Kinross Council also offer free compost!

Please get in touch if your local council does something similar!