Composting gets creative!

The composting bug has hit South Yorkshire with more and more people discovering the benefits of transforming kitchen and garden waste into a free nutrient-rich food for their garden.

It is also a major boost for the environment.  Composting at home for just one year can save greenhouse gases equivalent to all the C02 produced by a kettle for one year, or a washing machine for three months.

A campaign to promote more home composting is being run by the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR) Waste Partnership and Renewi, the firm behind the award-winning waste treatment facility at Manvers.

Children were invited to produce something creative to promote or explain composting, and they rose to the challenge with posters, models, a Tik Tok video and a stop motion animation.  Prize bundles worth £100 included a compost bin, gardening tools, a grow your own pizza kit, seeds and books about composting and gardening, with a book and a certificate for runners up.

A social media competition for adults attracted almost 600 entries for the chance to win three state-of-the-art £200 Hotbin hot composting systems.

Winners in the children’s category are Jessica Fleetwood (5), Lara and Lucien Knowles (5 and 7), Matiee Ullaha (8) and Rosa Bartlett (10).

Picture of competition winners Lucien and Lara

Competition winners Lucien and Lara

Louise Fleetwood, parent of a winner and runner-up, said:  “Because of your competition we spent a lot of our ‘home schooling’ time learning about compost and bringing our compost bin back to life……it had been ignored for a few years to say the least!   The children harvested what had been left in there and have used it to plant out their sunflowers.  They now take pride in ‘feeding him’ every evening.  So a big thank you as it really has made a difference!”

Picture of Doncaster winners Rosa and Jasmine

Doncaster winners Rosa and Jasmine

Winners in the adult competition, who were selected at random, are Lindsey Mangham from Barnsley, David Thomson from Doncaster and Georgina Yates from Rotherham.

Community Education Liaison Officer based at Manvers, Abi Cox, praised the enthusiasm for the project and the imaginative entries from children who wanted to do their bit to help save the planet.

“They were very impressive and a lot of thought had gone into them.  Although the waste treatment facility at Manvers diverts 97% of household waste from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham from landfill, composting at home gets more use out of garden waste and saves space in bins and money on fertilisers.”

Picture of competition prizes

Competition prizes

The award-winning waste treatment facility at Manvers processes around a quarter of a million tonnes of leftover waste a year from 340,000 homes across Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, turning into useful products rather than sending it to landfill.

For more information contact Abi Cox or Rebecca Wilson on 01709 765350, or abigail.cox@renewi.com and rebecca.wilson@renewi.com

Published: 18th June 2020