Composting campaign launched

Thursday 27 June 2024

Home composting is being pushed as a positive for our gardens while also helping to save the island money.

Guernsey Waste has launched a new campaign to encourage more of us to compost at home.

A survey in 2021 found that more than 40% of households were composting at home, but around half of these did not include kitchen waste.

Guernsey Waste says, as a result, hundreds of tonnes of food waste is collected and exported every year, which could otherwise be dealt with on island for free - helping to reduce the island's overall waste management costs.

The same survey also found that more than a third (37%) of home composters had previously included kitchen waste, but stopped when food collections were introduced in 2018.

Guernsey Waste’s new campaign is promoting the benefits of compost that can be produced at home and subsequently put to good use in the garden, as a natural, nutrient-rich fertiliser.

In 2023, just under 3,500 tonnes of segregated food waste was collected from households – equivalent to around 130kgs per home. Guernsey Waste says as much as a third of this material could be composted at home.

Waste Minimisation & Sustainability Officer, Douglas Button, said that the cost of managing this material - including collection, sorting, and exporting it - would reduce if more households chose to compost at home.

“We think we can do more and are keen to encourage islanders who have stopped composting kitchen waste to give it a go again. Plus, there are probably a lot of islanders out there who have not yet tried home-composting but could do. For instance, if they have moved house and have a garden for the first time,” he said.

“Whether this is using compost bins, building your own heap, creating a wormery, buying a hot bin, or even a bokashi - there are lots of ways to compost to suit the size of your garden.

“The more food waste we compost at home, the less we have to export and the less we all have to pay to process it.”

What can - and can't be composted?

Guernsey Waste says items that can be composted include: 

• fruit and vegetables, salad, tea bags, coffee grounds, grass clippings, soft leafy plants (including weeds), prunings and hedge trimmings (ideally shredded), woodchip, leaves, paper and card (torn up or shredded), straw, plant stems, selected vegetarian pet waste/bedding.

Food waste that is not suitable for home composting includes any meat products, cooked meal leftovers, dairy products and bread.