I am endebted to the Berwickshire for this weeks front page story. The wife and I feel that we are something of pioneers in the composting business having gone organic as soon as we arrived in Hutton 8 years ago. We belong to BOG (Borders Organic Gardens) but in Eastern Berwickshire organic gardens are few and far between as indeed are people doing serious composting. At present all rubbish is taken away once a week and dumped in some landfill site-serious recyclers have to take everything into Berwick. Wheelie Bins have been promised for years but have not reached the Hutton Paxton Metropolitan area so all this is good news.
Scottish Borders Councils home composting campaign
THOUSANDS of homes in the Borders are about to receive a home composter as part of the Scottish Borders Council's home composting campaign which was launched this week, writes JANICE GILLIE.
A comprehensive advice and support service is available to the 15,300 homes due to receive the composters by the end of July this year.Crusaders were enlisted by the council to help persuade members of the public of the long-term environmental value of composting. Among those recruited is Alan Dewar from Allanton who was presented with his commemorative certificate at the official launch ceremony along with David Catt of Jedburgh, Mike Madden of West Linton and Ogilvie Dickson of Melrose.Alan is an avid advocate of recycling and reducing the amount of waste he puts out for collection. Nothing in his house or garden that can be composted or burnt is ever included in his general waste. He has been home composting for about six years, has several compost bins and a cone and uses the resulting compost as a soil improver by rotovating it into the ground.Free advice and support is available from two well-respected compost 'gurus', Dave and Jane Allan of ASK Organic.Not only does composting produce a great soil improver for your garden, but it is one of the many ways you can help protect the environment. Councillor Edgar explained: "By reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill less harmful methane gas and leachate will be produced. In addition less fuel will be used in transporting waste to other locations. "By using compost as a natural fertiliser less minerals and chemicals will be used, making gardening more sustainable."Composting will also be important when householders in rural areas receive their wheeled bins and recycling bags as part of the kerbside recycling initiative. "Householders will have their wheeled bin emptied each week and no extra bags of waste will be uplifted," said Fiona Deans, the council's waste strategy implementation manager. "In urban areas, residents will get garden waste bins which will be collected weekly, but we would still encourage them to use a home composter if they have space."Home composting will help deal with much of your garden waste and Dave and Jane Allan have lots of other tips for coping with excess garden material."Councillor Edgar added: "The council is delighted to be partnering with such knowledgeable people as Jane and Dave Allan for this project. It is great to be able to use local talent and expertise in our efforts to improve the world we live in."
09 June 2005
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