A Compost Strategy for Greater Manchester.

The Fairfield Composting Group believes that Greater Manchester needs to adopt a 'zero waste' strategy in order for the conurbation to become more environmentally sustainable.

As part of this progressive waste strategy Greater Manchester needs to be composting a significant proportion of its waste as close to source as possible. Put simply Greater Manchester needs an extensive and concerted activity to first reduce its waste, re-use where possible and thirdly recycle and compost waste close to where it is generated.

The Fairfield Composting Group believes that this approach will bring significant environmental benefits and create significant jobs and strengthen Greater Manchester's fledgling social enterprise sector.

Therefore the Fairfield Composting Group is advocating the following measures:

1.0       Education and awareness raising.

Activity and awareness raising programme to reduce the amount of waste in the conurbation needed to be composted.

2.0       Composting of Commercial waste.

Organic waste should be composted as close to its origin as possible:

First option – in-vessel composting on site (for example Fairfield Material Management at Smithfield Market)

When an on-site approach is not appropriate (perhaps because of space limitations, hygiene considerations or planning consent) then organic waste should be transported in-bulk to the nearest composting facility within the city's boundaries.

3.0       Domestic Waste.

3.1           Houses with significant gardens.

All domestic households in the first instance should be offered a free compost bin (as with wheelie bins). This should go hand-in-hand with an awareness raising campaign, a free-phone help line and an information pack.

Individuals would be encouraged to compost kitchen waste and grass cuttings from the garden and use the resultin compost on their own gardens.

Each local authority would then offer a seasonal collection of woody garden waste which would then be delivered to an in-vessel composting facility within the conurbation to a farm-scale windrow facility within five miles of the city's boundaries.

3.2           Sheltered housing clusters and tower blocks with communal gardens.

Such housing would be served with an appropriate  community composting facility. Based on the community recycling champions model – a dedicated resident or caretaker would oversee and promote a communal composting facility. Such a unit would be of the appropriate size and be located within the premises to ensure ease of access.

Such compost facilities would be visited each month to ensure their effectiveness and to support the compost-champion.

3.3           Households without gardens.

Finally, individual houses without gardens would be offered a fortnightly collection of organic waste through a 'green-bin' system. Households whould be asked to place kitchen waste and other organic material like cardboard into the green bins instead of in their black wheelie bins.

The collected waste would be dealt with within a five  mile radius of the city's boundaries.

4.0       Other Waste Disposal Technolgies.

Pyrolosis, gasification and other incineration-like technologies have limited environmental benefit, are based on unproven science and, like incineration, require significant capital investment, therefore tying a local authority into expensive long term contracts with private contractors.

The Fairfield Composting Group believes that such technologies are inappropriate. They offer little social benefit and are detrimental to our local environment and the health of Greater Manchester's residents.

5.0      Developing End-markets.

Resources must be utilised to create end markets for the composted materials. For example woodchip, soil conditioner, garden compost and bio-diesel are all products that can be sold back to residents and local farmers strengthening the composting sector.

6.0       Promotion of this strategy.

This strategy will be promoted at any meeting the Fairfield Composting Group attend with local authority individuals and the waste disposal authority.

The Fairfield Composting Group will lobby for such an approach through the Manchester Recycling Consortium.

This document will be posted on the www.gmcomposting.org.uk website.

We will seek the endorsement of this strategy from the Manchester Recycling Consortium, North West Waste Forum, EMERGE Recycling, MERCi, Manchester Friend's of the Earth etc.

This document will be emailed with a covering note introducing The Fairfield Composting Group to all councillors in Greater Manchester.