Anglesey gardeners received a great boost on Sunday 17 October when they went to collect soil improver from the recycling centre in Penhesgyn, Menai Bridge. This was the first giveaway of the concentrated compost that is made from the garden and food waste collected on the island.

The offer to collect the soil improver was given by the Waste Section of the Isle of Anglesey County Council at the Anglesey Show. “This is the first time we have been able to offer the soil improver to Anglesey householders as the certification process and traceability has to be carefully monitored, we hope to be able to offer the soil improver to more widely and to more gardeners in future,” said Eric Hughes, Compost Technician, from the Waste Management team at Isle of Anglesey County Council.

“The soil improver looks fantastic and it was easy to collect. I am looking forward to improving the soil around my vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees,” said Mr O J Owen of Penysarn.

The soil improver contains a wide range of nutrients that help plants grow. The mixture can be spread thinly on boarders as a mulch, to help shrubs and on vegetable patches to feed and retain water. It is a natural product without any chemicals added and it looks different from the compost you can buy in garden centres.

“The soil enhancer needs to be treated in a slightly different way from shop bought compost, we will be educating gardeners about getting the best from this product. The gardeners of Anglesey have provided the green waste to make the soil enhancer and we hope to make it more widely available to more gardeners soon,” said Eric Hughes.

Food waste is being collected from households across the island diverting the food waste away from the black bin and it going to landfill. The food waste is mixed with green garden waste at the compost facility at Penhesgyn and this mix is turned into compost naturally by controlling the air flow and monitoring the temperature. The compost process is fully scrutinised to strict PAS 100 standards which guarantees a quality soil enhancer is produced.

“I am pleased that we can give back the soil improver to the gardeners of Anglesey. Our recycling efforts are dependant on householders sorting their waste at home and using the red and blue boxes, the food waste caddies and green garden bin, we thank them for their support,” says Cllr Hefin Wyn Thomas, Isle of Anglesey County Council’s portfolio holder with responsibility for Waste and Recycling.

Anglesey County Council Waste Section has achieved the high recycling rate of 49% in the Welsh Recycling and Compost rates for 2009/10, recently announced by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). “We need to focus on recycling more and sending less to landfill, we are doing well at the moment but looking ahead we are expected to recycle 70% of our waste by 2024/25,” said Cllr Thomas.

If you would like to be on the list for the next soil improver giveaway please contact the Waste Promotions Team on admin@acercomms.co.uk or 01248 722 529.

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