How composting groups are cutting down on waste

Volunteers run the Marldon Community Composting site

A council has launched an initiative to cut garden waste through composting.

South Hams District Council in Devon said there were already eight community garden waste composting sites in the area but it wanted to encourage more.

It has offered up match-funded grants worth up to £7,500 towards the cost of creating community composting sites, which allow people to recycle their green waste as well as providing compost to take home.

Sustainable South Hams compost mentor Ben Bryant, who lives in Marldon, where the latest compost site has been set up, said: "The end product is magnificent - it's healthy, living soil."

Marldon villager Ben Bryant said the site produces high-quality compost

At the Marldon Community Composting scheme, which is run by volunteers, garden waste is transformed into compost in about four months.

David Bradbury, founder of Sustainable South Hams, said the social aspect of the scheme was something he had not considered.

"It puts a huge smile on my face," he said.

"The community involvement has been wonderful."

Jacqui Hodgson, South Hams district councillor and executive member for community composting, said composting was a way for people to cut their carbon footprint.

She said of garden and food waste: "You wouldn't think it had such a heavy carbon footprint but it does."

Melissa Harvey said two sites were experimenting with "hot" composting

In a move that could allow more household waste to be dealt with, South Hams District Council is looking at ways to deal with raw and cooked food waste by experimenting with "hot" composting.

A community market garden in Dartington is one of two pilot projects in the South Hams looking at the idea.

It involves a small insulated metal tumbler which processes the difficult to deal with waste.

Melissa Harvey, from Sustainable South Hams, said: "When the material goes in it gets tumbled... lots of air gets mixed in with sawdust, bacteria really gets to work, and by the time it comes out... it's not really food any more."