New Redbridge community composting sites help put food waste to good use

Green minded locals could soon be putting their food and other organic waste to good use as Redbridge Council launches community composting sites in its parks for the first time.

As well as supporting local people to reduce their food waste through composting, the new eco-sites produce nutrient rich compost from the organic waste, which can be used to help keep the parks’ green spaces flourishing.

The new public composting sites, which will be free to use, will be located at:

• Goodmayes Park, in the Park Keeper’s compound, Aberdour Road, Goodmayes. Following its opening, the site will be accessible Tuesdays and Saturdays, 10am-3pm.
• Seven Kings Park, in the Park Keeper’s compound, Epsom Road, Ilford.

Following its opening, the site will be accessible Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am-3pm.

Items that can be composted include uncooked fruit and vegetables, tea bags, coffee grounds and dead flowers. Each site will have posters informing people of the full list of what can and can’t be composted.

The green-initiative forms part of the Council’s work to reduce food waste in Redbridge and lower the borough’s carbon footprint to help tackle the climate crisis. 

Two community composting workshops are also being hosted at the sites to mark their official opening, and to encourage local people to find out more about the benefits of composting.

There’s no need to book a spot on the FREE opening day workshops, you can just turn up:

• Goodmayes Park: Saturday 28 September, the Park Keeper’s compound, 11:15am – 12:00pm
• Seven Kings Park: Saturday 5 October, the Park Keeper’s compound, 11:15am – 12:00pm

Run by the Council’s Neighbourhoods Team and Park Rangers, the workshops will give composting demonstrations, information on what can and can’t be composted, and the environmental and financial benefits of composting whether it’s done through the community sites or via home composting.

Maria Espin, a mum of two from Barkingside, is a passionate local environmentalist and welcomed the new initiative, hailing it as an ‘opportunity for local people to be involved in positive community action that helps our local environment’.

She continued: “The public composting sites are a great way to get the community involved in helping care for the local environment because we all have a role to play in that. Reducing our waste to tackle the climate crisis is all our responsibility. This new initiative is a great way to put waste to work! Using our food waste to turn it into compost creates opportunities for our parks to have new flowers and greenery that the community has had a helping hand in cultivating for everyone to enjoy. It’s a really lovely idea.”

Community composting sites are particularly ideal for those who are unable to compost at home due to lack of outside space.

The project, led through Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure who manage the borough’s parks on behalf of Redbridge Council, is also being supported by The Ministry of Justice—Community Payback, Ekota Academy, Friends of Goodmayes Park, and The Seven Kings and Goodmayes Allotment Society. The groups will be actively involved in several ways from offering advice, providing organic matter to sustain the composting process, and helping to regularly turn the compost and help apply it to revitalise flowerbeds once the compost is ready for use.

Leader of Redbridge Council, Cllr Kam Rai, said: “Composting is a great way to use food waste to make a positive impact on the environment, instead of a negative one. It helps to reduce household waste and emissions associated with transportation and processing. The composted food waste provides high nutrient soil which is great for gardening and will be put to good use in our local parks. This is a great example of how we can work together to reduce waste and emissions, and improve our local green spaces, creating a cleaner greener Redbridge.

Chair of Vision Trustees, Martin Solder, said: "This is a fantastic initiative, and the workshops will provide valuable tips for home composting. I would like to extend special thanks to the groups supporting the project for their active participation in making it a success and ensuring its ongoing smooth operation.”

Around a third of waste produced in Redbridge is organic waste, including food. Households can help reduce this figure by putting their food waste to good use through composting, which is nature's process of recycling food waste into nutrient rich sustenance for gardens and green spaces. On average, a household can reduce their waste by at least 30% through composting.

Composting at home for just one year can also save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 an average household kettle produces annually, or a washing machine produces in three months.

It’s a great way to reduce your household waste and free up your bins. To find out more about composting, or to purchase a compost bin go to: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/bins-waste-and-recycling/garden-waste/home-composting/

(ENDS)