International Compost Awareness Week 2024

International Compost Awareness Week 6^th to 11^th May

International Compost Awareness Week is held yearly in early May. The aim is to raise awareness of the benefits of composting and to encourage people to compost wherever they are in the world. This year’s International Compost Awareness Week focuses on compost as ‘Nature’s Climate Champion’.

Food waste in the UK was estimated to be around 9.5 million tonnes per year with 6.4 million tonnes of that coming from households. This suggests the vast scale and food waste created 18 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2021/22. The current estimation from WRAP (the climate NGO) is that only 3% of food waste is home composted which suggests there is lots of scope for us all to do more composting at home, with the highest wasted foods being vegetables and salads, followed by fresh fruit which are the most easily home compostable foods.

Composting at home reduces the need for transporting waste from both gardens and kitchens. This immediately reduces the carbon footprint that would be associated with transporting waste materials from a household to a waste facility such as a landfill or composting site. This reduction in the need to transport waste can have a positive impact on the climate.

Composting can be done in an easy and inexpensive way, with either a “Dalek” style bin or even a pallet bin that is home made. However, if you want to get more involved there are more advanced composting bins and systems that can be used.

If you wish to find out more about which bin might best suit your composting needs then please check here.

We have lots of information about what materials you can compost at home (check here) depending on if you are using a typical cool composting system or a more secure hot composting system. Along with garden waste, such as grass clippings, uncooked food waste such as teabags, coffee grounds, fruit, vegetables and salads are the only food items that should be composted in a cool composting system as otherwise it could attract unwanted pests. Therefore, if you have lots of food waste and would like to compost it a hot composting system may be more appropriate.

In short composting is a simple and rewarding practice that anyone can adopt to reduce waste and improve soil health. Through harnessing the power of nature’s recycling system, you can turn food and garden waste into nutrient-rich plant food for your garden, enriching your garden and contributing to a more sustainable future through less carbon emitted.

So, if you need help getting started with your composting journey, check out our video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYahotCvhJA&t=2s