Households asked to rethink garden waste

Northern Ireland environment minister Alex Attwood has launched Compost Awareness Week to encourage people to compost organic household waste.


Around a quarter of the average household waste is organic and could be turned in to compost.

However, in 2009/10, 383,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste collected by councils in Northern Ireland was still buried in landfill sites.

The Awareness Week aims to highlight the benefits of waste as a valuable resource by providing householders with a free and environmentally friendly compost and thereby reducing waste going to landfill.

He said: “Reducing waste to landfill is something we all have an interest in as failure to meet landfill targets could result in fines totalling £500,000 per day.

“We need to find better ways to deal with our waste than burying it in a large hole in the ground.

At the launch were a series of demonstrations to show how to compost at home.

The demonstrations are part of the Department of the Environment’s Rethink Waste campaign, the Awareness week will run until May 30.

Alison Brown

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