[Scullion]

My mate says that Dundee City Council sell bags of compost for 50p. Apparently there is a massive heap of well-rotted compost, at one if their skip sites... which is made up from garden and kitchen waste collected from people's homes (and god knows where else).

I'm still to enquire as to if Harlow Council offer the same deal, but would anybody trust using this on their veg? Surely there is a slight risk of the compost carrying diseases, or certain weed killers, etc... 

[simonwatson]

Disease from industrial composting is much less likely than home composting due to the high temperatures involved. If the compost has come mainly from food and home garden waste, there are unlikely to be significant amounts of persistent weed killers (most of the waste will be food or lawn clippings) and pretty much zero chance of aminopyralid.

If you're worried, get one bag and try growing some stuff in pots. 

[Debz]

My brother in law filled his raised beds with it last year.  Ayrshire council have a policy that you bring your own bags and take what you like for free.  He put a load of manure from his own horses in the bottom half and the compost on the top half.  It worked really well and he got great brassicas and huge potatoes.  He has done the same again this year for a new bed.

[Beklet]

Bedfordshire have a policy of turn up to the tip and collect for free....but when we turned up we were told it was limited to 3 bags 'to stop the sllotment people from taking it all' Er...cheers....as I don't have a garden I have no choice lol...

The recycling company sell it for £1.50 a bag, and it's heat treated to kill disease..I've used it on the plot to improve the soil, and in pots for my herbs and although it's not really fine, the plants seem to love it, I've had no problems so far 

[gazza975526570]

Wish our council had something similar - i guess they must sell theirs on - i believe Wakefield has a decent record in recycling so it must get a good amount to compost

They also dont appear to subsidise compost bins and the like - understand other councils do

[sunshineband]

Our council sells theirs on too 

[Turnba]

Hi all

I know this topic has been dead for a while now, but I came across it doing a google search for the Dundee Council composting scheme. If you're interested in it you can read a few paragraphs about it at http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/environment/compost/

I'd be interested if it really is as cheap as 50p a bag (and do you need your own bags? :-P ) - has anyone on here used it?

[Hesse2509]

My local council (Thanet) sell it at £2.50 for a 40l bag, and don't subsidise the bins I think.

[yorky]

Just googled to see what happens to all the green waste that Leeds City Council collects. I was surprised to find that 14,000 tonnes per year are collected by a firm based near Hull. Thats a round trip of about 120 miles. Does'nt sound very green to me 

[someoneorother]

The landfill site it might have otherwise ended up in isn't necessarily right on your doorstep either.

[Poolcue]

In Sutton we collect it from the recycling centre and its free.

[yorky]

The landfill site it might have otherwise ended up in isn't necessarily right on your doorstep either.

The one for South East Leeds where I live is about 3 miles away. The point I am making is that Leeds Council shout from the rooftops about how green they have become. If they did the same as some other councils and composted the waste on one of their own sites, that would be a lot greener than a fleet of lorrys making a 120 mile round trip on the M62.

[viettaclark]

I think it depends on luck what's in our council compost. I had some very woody stuff.....probably the thousands of recycled Christmas trees. And it's not that cheap either....a private contractor bags and sells it.

[bailey]

prob with some councils is that they sell the compostable items on,  with the buyer paying for the transport of it,  some reckon financially this is the better option,, 

[Rick the rookie]

The landfill site it might have otherwise ended up in isn't necessarily right on your doorstep either.

The one for South East Leeds where I live is about 3 miles away. The point I am making is that Leeds Council shout from the rooftops about how green they have become. If they did the same as some other councils and composted the waste on one of their own sites, that would be a lot greener than a fleet of lorrys making a 120 mile round trip on the M62.

Yorky i know exactly where you are talking about and infuriates me like hell as there is a vast amount of disused land around that area for them to do it.
My brother works for one of the many contracted waste collection companies and the stories he tells of companies binning items that could be used elswhere is unbelievable eg Tesco's at Seacroft have 9 skips a day emtied of food that they cannot sell  why the hell isnt this sent for composting let alone all the cardboard food packaging.....hang on i need to count to ten.
As you have said they ram it down the Leeds folks throats for them to be greener yet they ignore the fact they are the worst culprits just look at the city skyline on a night with the amount of glow you would be mistaken for it being Chenobyl .
I glad i got outa that blooming city when i did