We are currently looking for volunteer “Compost Mentors” in Bodmin and Liskeard areas to take part in a project that aims to encourage more people to compost their food and garden waste at home, and to grow their own food.
CWA offers free training and support to local people to become “Compost Mentors”: volunteers who encourage and help members of their community to compost.
Residents of the Bodmin and Liskeard are invited to attend a free compost mentor training workshop. All participants will be provided with a free compost bin and caddy. After attending the workshop trainees will begin to mentor their friends, family, colleagues or neighbours. The first two households mentored by each volunteer also receive free compost bins and caddies.
In 2009-2010, the project was successfully run in West and Mid Cornwall. Since attending the workshops the mentors have been helping members of their community to start composting. Most mentors have been mentoring family and friends, and some proactive volunteers have also been speaking to the public about composting in schools, car boot sales and various events.
Julia Pollard, CWA’s Compost Project Worker, says “This is such an exciting and rewarding project. We have now trained over 100 mentors, and as a result the number of people composting at home in Cornwall is constantly growing. It is very encouraging when you know it reduces the volume of waste going to landfill and the production of harmful gases provoking climate change. Composting requires little effort but makes a real difference. And last but not least, it provides you with free, wonderful compost to use in your garden!”
If you are from either Bodmin or Liskeard (people from surrounding villages are welcome) and would like to get involved, please contact CWA on 01209 210 883. You can also email at: (Aktiviere JavaScript, um die Email-Adresse zu sehen).
The workshops will be held in Bodmin on 24 Mayst th and in Liskeard on 24 June or 30 June, so sign up now!
The scheme is funded by the Big Lottery Fund as part of its Local Food program.
After moving into our first home my husband and I are deturmined to make our home as low impact on the environment as possible. This includes an all organic garden. I am so confused with composting. I have tried it but I must be doing it wrong. We have 3 small children and another on the way. I want to teach them all about being good to the earth and recycling. We live in Swansea, MA. So I am not sure if going to a workshop would work….but I want to learn!! I would love to host something in my home for friends to come and learn more too.
Thank you
Jennifer Wing
Stay at home mom to 3 almost 4 little monsters!
You are very welcome to come to the Compost workshop in Liskeard. However we will be running the compost mentor scheme in Saltash or Torpoint later in the summer or early autumn. I will email you an enrolment form for Liskeard.
Is there any chance of getting involved with the liskeard sessions? i am a torpoint resident and we dont seem to have had anything like this so far.
Although we sometimes give bins away in competitions at community events promoting composting, we have also recently been giving away a limited number of free ‘lidless’ bins (sourced from the local authority, that were destined for landfill), to interested members of the community.
However, in general we only give free bins to people involved in our community project activity, such as compost mentors, which involves significant composting training. As we are aware that previous council based schemes providing free compost bins on mass have resulted in some people returning bins or giving them away, because they lacked the skills to compost efficiently, this is why CWA have developed the Compost Mentor Scheme.
I’ve been trained as a ‘Compost Mentor’ by CWA, as well as providing a free bin, its also been a great experience, I have learned considerably more about composting through attending the CWA workshop, than i would researching on my own, which has since enable me to share these skills with the people I mentor!
Sometimes it’s not enough to have a compost bin, you have to know a little bit about the basics of composting if you really want to get some results.
I encourage people who got those free compost bins to do some research on the subject. There’s a lot to learn on the subject.