Here in the Scottish Borders the council do not collect food waste as a separate collection. Instead, it goes into landfill. Abundant Borders want to take food residues out of the waste stream destined for landfill and instead, working with the local community and community groups, turn this waste into useful compost.
Karen Birch, Chief Officer at Abundant Borders says,
“We need to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill and manage waste locally rather than transporting it over long distances to large treatment works. We want to encourage a more circular economy, with local food growing projects, local food waste collection and local composting”.
Community composting benefits the environment as it:
- removes biodegradable and decaying materials from general waste, keeping the rest of the rubbish cleaner and fresher
- diverts resources away from landfill
- produces a useful bi-product – compost
- helps Scotland to meet the EU landfill directive and the UK waste and recycling targets
Community composting benefits communities:
- it is an opportunity for neighbours to come together and work together
- the compost produced can be used to directly benefit the local community; quality compost has resale value and can be used on local growing projects – like Abundant Borders Community Food Gardens
The Scottish Government’s Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) provides grants and support for community-led organisations to tackle climate change by running projects that reduce local carbon emissions and is funding Abundant Borders to undertake a community consultation in Eyemouth into food waste recycling.
Over the coming weeks and months we will arranging meetings and information exchanges widely in Eyemouth, in partnership with Sea the Change, so watch this space!
If you are interested in getting involved, or just want to find out more, contact robin@abundantborders.org.uk
The first chance to have your say will be at the Sea the Change Open Events on 22nd August 2018
