The aim of the week is to encourage everybody from waste managers to householders to think about making and using compost. The week also aims to educate people how composting, as a means of waste reduction, can benefit them, their local community and the environment. Each year the week has a central theme, this year it is “Make a difference…Compost!”
Composting Association members will host local celebrations to promote themselves and the industry as a whole. These events have ranged from openings and tours of composting demonstration gardens as well as centralised composting facilities, to tree planting ceremonies and the opening of community gardens using local compost to prepare the soil.
In the UK, Composting Awareness Week 2001 will seek to raise awareness of composting and compost use through open days to be held at a number of centralised composting sites across the UK. It is anticipated that these open days will be attended by Local Authority representatives, current and potential compost producers and end users as well as schools and community groups. In addition to the open days, members of The Composting Association throughout the UK are encouraged to organise a local activity, be it an open day, a community composting demonstration, or a plant sale.
Speaking at this year’s Composting Association Annual Conference, Susan Antler, Executive Director of the Canadian Composting Council, highlighted the confidence and belief in composting and compost use that the week has generated across North America. “The success of the week is plain to see, our industry is thriving as more and more people are getting involved in composting at all levels as a result of the week,” enthused Ms. Antler. “Composting Awareness Week opens the industry to a much wider audience. The public become more interested, not just in compost but in their waste in general which can only benefit the waste industry as a whole.”
Composting Awareness Week is one component of the Composts Marketing Network that has been set up to develop a multi-market profile for composts. The Network aims to promote the long term sustainable uses of composts through information transfer, marketing initiatives, a UK compost quality standard and research projects.
The project has been funded by Biffaward, the landfill tax credits arm of Biffa Waste Services.
Further information is available from: Tony Breton
Composts Marketing Network Co-ordinator
The Composting Association
Avon House
Tithe Barn Road
Wellingborough
Northants. NN8 1DH
Tel: 01933 227878
Fax: 01933 441040
Email: MEPS (Europe)
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