With Composting Awareness Week starting on Sunday, what better time is there for people to sign up for their own compost bin and join Suffolk Coastal’s massive home composting green army?

Local residents are already showing the way to the rest of the county with over 14,000 subsidised home compost bins having been bought and anyone ordering one between May 4 and 10 could win £50 worth of garden vouchers.

“Home composting is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with your compostable garden waste and some food waste such as fresh fruit and vegetable peelings,” said Cllr Andrew Nunn, Cabinet Member for the Green Environment.

“Many people like making their own compost to use on their plants, because they know what has gone into it, and it is a much more environmentally-friendly alternative to peat-based compost products bought from shops.

“We have got the best record in Suffolk for people composting at home and I would encourage even more people to get into this particular recycling habit. Regularly using your own compost bin also leaves more room in our brown bin for food and other items you cannot compost at home but which is converted by the Parham composter,” added Cllr Nunn.

Suffolk Coastal’s brown bins are emptied every fortnight and are perfect for food scraps such as cooked and uncooked meat, fish and dairy products, as well as larger amounts of cardboard. The hi-tech facility at Parham turns it all into an organic waste which is used on local agricultural land as a soil improver.

About 30 per cent of the average household’s waste is compostable, and if this is not put in a home compost bin or a brown bin, it ends up in a landfill site where it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.

Suffolk Coastal, in partnership with the Suffolk Waste Partnership and the Waste Resource Action Programme, is currently offering home compost bins at subsidised prices to residents. A 220 litre Compost Converter costs £17, a 330 litre Compost Converter is £20, and a 250 litre modular KOMP bin costs £40.

Anyone ordering a home compost bin during Compost Awareness Week will be entered into a prize draw with the chance of winning £50 worth of garden vouchers. All prices include free delivery; they can be ordered by calling 0845 077 0757. More information on composting at home is available on http://www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk/yourhome/waste/composting/

Another way to recycle garden waste is to take it to one of the household waste recycling centres Felixstowe, Foxhall and Leiston. On Saturday May 10, a Shovel-It-Yourself Day is being held at the Foxhall site when people can come and collect some of the compost completely free - just bring a shovel and a bag or something to carry it away with, but be early as it is first come, first serve.