New community compost bins have been installed in the University of Birmingham’s Green Heart community garden ‘Grow with Joe’ in an aim to not only become more sustainable but to satisfy the need for quality compost.
The ‘Grow with Joe’ garden is run by student volunteers from the Conservation Volunteers Society and is now in its third year of production in the heart of campus. The garden project was established to encourage students, staff and members of the wider community to become interested in local food production.
The new insulated compost bins, funded by Campus Services, will provide a clean receiver for staff and students to deposit their organic food waste. Such as vegetable peelings, egg shells and biodegradable tea bags. The main aim is to teach members of the community about organic food and its benefits, to reduce waste from students and staff and to make the project more self-sustaining and less reliant on external input.
The community composting rules allowed in the compost are:
- Fruit/Vegetable Peelings
- Egg Shells
- Biodegradable tea bags
- Coffee grounds
Those not allowed in the compost are:
- PLASTIC OF ANY KIND
- Meat, fish, dairy or oils
- Diseased plant material
On-going maintenance of the project will be managed by staff and student volunteers from the Conservation Society.
Lawrence Weston, of the University of Birmingham Conservation Volunteers, said: “We are really grateful to the University and the Guild of Students for their support with the new community composting initiative. The bins give us an opportunity to introduce new people to our garden, as well as give us a fresh supply of compost to grow fresh fruits and vegetables.”
For media enquiries please contact Olivia Barfi, University of Birmingham, Alternatively, contact the Press Office out of hours on +44 (0)7789 921165.
The full public launch will be on Tuesday 16 March 2021. To become involved or learn more about the ‘Grow with Joe’ project please contact BUCV