[Growster...]

So... do all the big shiny machines at council depots, compost all the green (?) stuff we put in the bins, to the extent of ridding the material of everything which is called 'nasty'?

How many people will put Japanese Knotweed, or Marestail etc, in their bins, either from ignorance, or mischeief, or because they're awful weeds and need to be just chucked out for someone else to deal with?

And will there ever be a spread of these nightmare bits and pieces long afterwards, like on council gardens etc?

[Ice]

Most people put the things they wouldn't put in their compost bins into the council bins.  I have little faith that the council will get the compost to the right temperature to destroy these things.

[mumofstig]

Ashford BC gave up composting because they couldn't certify that the finished product was to the required standard..at least they admitted defeat 

[Growster...]

My feelings too Ice and Mum.

It's bad enough remembering not to put couch into our own heap, let alone think of how a big council machine will do the right thing...

I think all our stuff ends up in Tunbridge Wells, but I've never followed a truck for a day, so can't confirm!

[radiohead]

I thought they composted simply to reduce landfill....not for the benefit of growers. It would clearly be very difficult if not impossible for them to remove all material harmful to gardeners.Personally I feel for councils having to deal with waste,we all produce ever increasing amounts,but nobody wants landfill,nobody wants incineration....we all moan about recyling bins and green waste bins etc....well what are they supposed to do with it?

And before anyone asks...I dont work for the council

[mumofstig]

I thought they composted simply to reduce landfill....not for the benefit of growers.

where did you think the finished compost would end up then? It has to go somewhere and the collection and composting process involves more than just letting it sit in a pile, so is quite costly to the Council.
The idea was to sell it back to us, or the producers of bags of multipurpose compost. When the bags say they contain composted green waste materials..that's what is in them...someone elses garden rubbish
http://www.sita.co.uk/what-we-do/composting

[noshed]

Our council compost arrives incredibly hot, so I imagine most things are heated into oblivion. I left a heap alone over the summer and only a few annual weeds sprouted in it so I'd say it's probably OK

[rufty]

Cambridge council lets you collect as much as you like for "free"
I've used the stuff in large amounts and not noticed any real increase in weeds (in the plots I have put the stuff into). In fact if anything I have had less problems with weeds in those beds, but that could be because I never use those beds I have put it into immediately for food crops.
When you collect it it is really hot, even though it has presumably been outside for a few days in the pile you shovel it from. So I am convinced that it is up to the 60+ degrees needed to kill weeds and seeds. I'm sure if a home compost heap can reach 60+ and kill weeds and seeds then one the size of a large house must certainly get hot enough.

However I'm not convinced people don't put toxic things into their bins. I'm sure some people must for example put cardboard with dodgy dies on it that could be toxic. Or burn toxic stuff (painted wood/coal) and put that in the green bin. Now hopefully few enough people do that and I dilute the compost with enough soil/home compost that any toxins are diluted and then washed away in time by the rain that it's not something worth worrying about. (I also only put the council compost in a bed that i first grow a green manure on before growing veg and then compost the green manure separately) However every time i hear stories of people making raised beds entirely from council compost i have pictures of my neighbour emptying his fireplace pan into the green bin...

[kosh42|EFG]

My council sell it by the bag, and at a higher price than a decent branded compost from the garden centre...

[tosca100]

I thought they composted simply to reduce landfill....not for the benefit of growers. It would clearly be very difficult if not impossible for them to remove all material harmful to gardeners.Personally I feel for councils having to deal with waste,we all produce ever increasing amounts,but nobody wants landfill,nobody wants incineration....we all moan about recyling bins and green waste bins etc....well what are they supposed to do with it?

And before anyone asks...I dont work for the council

+

Well said.

We used a fair amount of the council soil conditioner when we put some new beds in, certainly no more weeds there than the rest of the garden, and no "nasties"

[Runwell-Steve]

Our council certainly do hot compost everything, well I assume so anyway as they also take all food waste in with the green waste, cooked and raw.  I would assume it would have to be composted fairly well to sort out raw meat etc..
I'm not sure they sell it to the public though, It probably reappears in expensive sacks of peat free compost in the garden centres.

[sunshineband]

Our council must use it all themselves because they don't sell it back to us 

[JayG]

One of Groucho Marx's famous quips was that he wouldn't want to be a member of any club which would happily welcome him. 

I get the same feeling about using council compost which includes at least some of the dodgy things I have put in my green bin (it might be fine in the end but how do you actually know for sure?) 

[Growster...]

Just found that we could buy a 40-litre bag of compost which costs £2.50, from the local depot.

Rather do my own at that price, but they do say that they'd rather get rid of it than use it in landfill.

If anyone knows Tunbridge Wells, it's the Longfield Rd depot, so be ready to spend about eight hours in your car...

Take a flask, a selection of CDs, and all of the weekend papers...

[someoneorother]

Our council certainly do hot compost everything, well I assume so anyway as they also take all food waste in with the green waste, cooked and raw.  I would assume it would have to be composted fairly well to sort out raw meat etc..
I'm not sure they sell it to the public though, It probably reappears in expensive sacks of peat free compost in the garden centres.

This is the key thing - I would also be wary of compost form councils that take garden waste only, since those will be just be running open composters and so you can't really know if they get hot enough to sterilise it.

If they take food wate (including meat, bones etc) then they have to, by law, compost it in in closed cells with temperature monitoring to ensure it gets hot enough to kill pathogens from the food which could infect humans or livestock, including stuff like swine fever. These regulations are no joke and I would be perfectly comfortable with such compost.