The eleventh annual international Compost Awareness Week (CAW) will be celebrated from Sunday 1st to Saturday 7th May 2011. The theme for this year focuses on community spirit and the concept of ‘passing on’ your composting and garden knowledge.
Cornwall Waste Action (CWA), a not for profit organisation, is a partner to the Cornwall Community Food and Composting project, which aims to encourage more people in the county to compost their own food and garden waste at home and to grow their own food. The scheme is funded by the Big Lottery Fund as part of its Local Food program.
CWA offers free training and support to local people to become volunteer compost mentors as part of the project, the trained volunteers then encourage and support their own friends, family, work colleagues and neighbours to compost. Since the project was established in 2009, 120 mentors have been trained in Cornwall and during CAW, compost mentors will be out and about in Cornwall ‘passing on’ their compost expertise.
Julia Pollard, CWA’s Compost Project Worker, says “This is a rewarding project, for all volunteers who participate and is a positive example of the voluntary sector, enabling social action, as part of the wider aims of the Big Society. It is also very encouraging for everyone involved; when you know active home composting reduces the volume of waste going to landfill as well as the production of harmful gases provoking climate change. Julia added “Composting all your kitchen and garden waste, requires a little effort everyday, but environmentally it makes a big difference, whilst it also provides you with free, wonderful compost to use in your garden”.
There will be opportunities for more people in East Cornwall to become trained mentors, interested residents in the Bodmin area are invited to attend a free compost mentor training workshop on the morning of Tuesday the 24th May at SITA’s Bodmin Materials Recycling Facility.
All participants who complete the workshop will be provided with a free compost bin, caddy and compost mentor pact. After the workshop trainees will begin to mentor people within their own social networks, new households mentored by volunteers also receive free compost bins as well as practical support
If you are a resident of the Bodmin area and would like to become a compost mentor, please contact CWA on 01209 210883 or email : (Aktiviere JavaScript, um die Email-Adresse zu sehen)
