Free compost giveaway to Dacorum residents to encourage recycling

Dacorum Borough Council is giving away free compost to residents to mark International Compost Awareness Week 2021.

Anyone who lives in Dacorum can attend the giveaway event at the Cupid Green Depot, Redbourn Road, on Sunday, May 16, between 9am and 12pm.

This year International Compost Awareness Week (2 - 8 May 2021), has the theme: Grow, Eat… COMPOST… repeat, based on the circular movement of the organics recycling process.

The compost is limited to two bags per vehicle and will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis – so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. The event may end early if compost runs out.

Due to COVID-19, residents are asked to wear masks and stay in their cars. The compost will be pre-bagged and crews will load the compost into the cars.

Last year, by recycling garden waste including grass cuttings, leaves, twigs, flowers and weeds in their green-lidded bins, Dacorum’s residents diverted over 10,500 tonnes of garden waste from landfill so that it could be recycled into compost instead.

Biogen are the company responsible for converting the contents of Dacorum’s green-lidded bins into this nutrient rich compost. They have provided the compost which will be on offer at the giveaway, meaning it has come full circle back to resident’s gardens.

Compost has a range of benefits, such as; improving soil quality, growing healthy plants, reducing the use of fertiliser and pesticides and is even an effective method of reducing harmful greenhouse gases.

Peat is a main ingredient of many shop bought brands of compost. Peatlands store a third of the world’s soil carbon, so when peat bogs are mined for garden compost, carbon dioxide and methane is released into the atmosphere.

Peatlands are also very diverse habitats for wildlife - however 94 per cent of the UK’s peat bogs have been destroyed, with wildlife disappearing with it.

As the compost in the give-away has come from resident’s green waste, it is peat-free so is much more eco-friendly.

For more details about home composting visit the council's website.