Green waste action reaps award for Somerset

The service, which began a year ago, serves 90,000 households with an integrated package of waste collections, including weekly food waste and recycling collections.

Green waste collections are offered as part of the package, but are charged for, and thus the Association believes the Partnership is helping to promote home composting.

” Since the launch of the scheme, overall recycling rates have more than trebled in Sort it! collection areas “
– Tony Breton, Composting Association
Somerset's recognition came at an awards ceremony that took place last night in Solihull. Other awards went to White Moss Horticulture, Earth Tech UK, the Cambridgeshire Composting Partnership and Aberdeen Forward.

Tony Breton, communications manager at the Composting Association said: “Since the launch of the scheme, overall recycling rates have more than trebled in Sort it! collection areas from 14-18% to an average of over 50%.”

The judges said they were particularly impressed by the way Somerset's waste partnership had considered all the issues associated with introducing a separate collection of food waste over such a large area and how to communicate the options to the public, said Mr Breton.

Marketing
Among the other awards, the Jim Balance Compost Marketing Award went to White Moss Horticulture. Judges said of the company's Liverpool site: “The company’s promotion of their new facility followed by a highly visual and diverse product marketing campaign, resulted in increasing sales across the retail and professional sectors.”

The Innovation in Composting Technology & Machinery Award went to Earth Tech UK, for its anaerobic digester that serves 28,000 residents in the Western Isles.

The Composting Association's Partnership Award went to the Cambridgeshire Composting Partnership for promoting composting throughout the county and helping to increase recycling from 29% to 44% in some instances.

Aberdeen Forward took home the Best Community Initiative Award for its work with Aberdeen city council on developing small-scale community composting sites.