Communal composting in East Sussex

Residents of flats diagnose their Kitchen Waste with the Doctors

Householders who had never home-composted before, or those who just needed a little support, could contact the Compost Doctors over the phone, by email, at events or at talks and presentations to discuss their composting questions and issues.

At a glance

• Client: East Sussex County Council
• Type of project: Home composting campaign (including flats)
• Duration: 12 months
• Techniques: Face-to-face waste minimisation advice, PR Promotions and marketing

Composting for householders

Without a county-wide kitchen waste collection, East Sussex County Council saw diversion of organic waste from landfill as a key objective. As a result, during 2007 Resource Futures were commissioned to set up a team of Compost Doctors to give practical home composting help and advice to residents across the county.

But what about flats?

In East Sussex, the fact that you live in a flat is not a barrier to composting. Quite the opposite. Residents in flats often want to compost their kitchen waste and have plenty of communal space for composting facilities.The Compost Doctors maximised this potential and tailored their services to help residents of flats to form groups, identify the best composting solutions for kitchen waste and get access to grant money to help with facilities.

Who has benefited?

So far, the Compost Doctors have focused on flat blocks in Eastbourne, many of whom are now composting happily and will soon be producing their own compost for pot plants, window boxes and communal gardens.

By concentrating on a particular town, a blue print for communal composting has been developed and once reviewed by the Council (who have been delivering Compost Doctors in-house since March 2008) will be rolled out across the county.

Project Synopses

Engaging the Residents of North London with Love Food Hate Waste

Resource Futures recruited and managed two embedded Outreach Workers to support the North London Waste Authority’s, WRAP funded, Love Food Hate Waste campaign. During the seven month period, the Outreach Workers organised and delivered over sixty roadshows in supermarkets, businesses, libraries and at community groups, across NLWA’s seven constituent boroughs, to engage more than 3,500 people with the campaign.

Working with the Community Sector Training Course

In 2006, Resource Futures were commissioned to produce a Training Module for inclusion in WRAP’s Advanced Recycling Manager’s Training Course on how to work with the community sector.