Neighbourhood Community Composting Toolkit
Composting is one of the most powerful local actions for climate, nature and pollution. There's no need to wait for the city to start a composting collection programme because it's actually much more efficient for neighbours to compost together! Chances are, you already compost or have a neighbour who does. On this page you'll find a complete toolkit for becoming a neighbourhood compost host. By hosting a compost bin and asking your neighbours to donate their food waste, you
reduce sending food to landfill/incineration (this can reduce cost, carbon miles, and energy used to burn the food).
create compost locally for your garden and your neighbours' gardens. This means no need for plastic bags, car-based trips to the garden center, spending money, importing compost, etc. Think about all the ways it reduces carbon in the supply chain.
help create healthy soil. By adding nutrients and soil biota, compost improves the biological, chemical and structural health of soils. This further contributes to healthy plants and successful projects.
remove additional emissions from the atmosphere. By promoting healthier and more vital plant growth, compost is a key mechanism for plants to take in carbon dioxide and convert it into leafy growth. While at the scale of an individual project this may seem like a small benefit, when taken as a whole this has a significant impact on the well-being of our climate. Not to mention soil is cooler in the shade of plants. (credit https://www.compostingcouncil.org/page/ClimateChangeBenefits)
Ready to Get Started as a neighbourhood compost host?
We've put together a toolkit to fully equip you to take this powerful action. If you need help, please reach out to composting@alwoodley2030.org and also join our Whattsapp group to connect with other community composters in Alwoodley. Let's produce all of our compost locally!
Step One: Get something to accept the waste in
Composting hosts need a bin out in front of the house, somewhere visible, but protected. This needs to be an outdoors caddy, you will need to think about how to stop it blowing away in the wind and keeping the lid closed.
One person has a sturdy one at the end of their drive. One of our hosts is very happy with this caddy that is fastened into a shelf on their wall (see image).
We’ve managed to secure a discount if you live in Leeds so it’s currently £12.49 with free shipping. If you have the resources to order this on your own, please do. If this is beyond your budget, please be in touch at composting@alwoodley2030.org so we can assist you in getting your bin set up.
Here's a sign for your bin. You can print this off and tape it on in a waterproof way. Or, we have some stickers that we can bring by to you. -A6 Caddy Sticker-2.pdf . Contact composting@alwoodley2030.org.
Step 2: Reach out to your neighbours to invite them to donate food waste
1. Very Important - Sign Up to Share Waste to get your compost bin advertised https://sharewaste.com/ and Create a new listing as an individual. This helps us keep track of our growing community composting community. Thank you!
3. Tell your neighbours
Here's a letter template to pass out to your neighbours via their postboxes - Neighbour community compost letter.docx. We suggest you set up a WhatsApp group as quite a nice way to talk to the people interested in your compost but it isn’t essential.
When customising the letter, think about what you will accept and make this clear in the letter and on your bin. What's currently in the letter is what we'd recommend for people getting started with community composting
Step 3: Make sure your neighbours have everything they need to get started
If people have never composted, they'll appreciate you making it really easy for them. They don't need one of our caddies, but please offer them. Alwoodley 2030 will distribute them for free. Fill out this form to let us know how many you need for your neighbours, or direct your neigbours to order them themselves.
