With gardening in full swing across the borough, ABC Council is encouraging residents to pick up some top tips during International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) and find out how they can help combat climate change in the process.
The annual campaign which runs from Monday 6 May to Saturday 11 May aims to highlight why we all should be composting our organics and using compost to create healthier soil.
Composting is also an effective way of tackling the climate crisis by reducing landfill waste. Thanks to the efforts of local people, thousands of tonnes of food waste and gardening waste is recycled into quality compost each year, which is used in horticulture and to help grow local food produce.
Lord Mayor of ABC Borough, Alderman Margaret Tinsley said: “Compost is such an important component of our gardens and we are learning more and more about just how beneficial it is to the wider environment.
“It’s really encouraging that so much food and garden waste is being recycled by our residents, and when you see the compost that is produced, it really makes the effort all worthwhile.”
The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Compost… Nature’s Climate Champion!’ which reflects the UN goal by highlighting the role compost plays in fighting climate change. Those roles include:
- Decreasing methane: Methane, a greenhouse gas twenty-five times as powerful as carbon dioxide, can be significantly reduced through the recycling of organics instead of their being landfilled.
- Helping with climate change mitigation: Compost offers a significant answer to climate change mitigation. Compost’s return to the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store carbon thereby removing it from the atmosphere.
- Reducing fertilizer inputs, reducing the pollution created to manufacture those inputs.
- Increasing resilience: Compost helps to increase resilience to the effects of climate change such as drought and extreme weather.
As part of this awareness week, an informal information day will be held at the council’s new No Dig garden beds at Kinnego in conjunction with Natural World Products, who process all the food and green waste collected across the borough into compost. During the event on Tuesday 6 May, participants will be given advice and guidance on food waste recycling and home composting.
The No Dig garden was created using compost created from food and organic waste along with cardboard kindly donated by Lurgan firm Smurfit.
To find out more about International Compost Awareness Week please visit https://compostfoundation.org/ICAW/ICAW-Home
