Pilot community composting project in Fort William

A pilot community composting project is taking place in Fort William.

Lochaber Environmental Group (LEG) and Highland Good Food Partnership (HGFP), one of the Highland Community Waste Partnership partners, are working with Kilmallie Community Fridge and Garden.

The project will understand the feasibility of household community composting in the Highlands in areas where the Highland Council does not provide a kerbside food waste collection service. 

It aims to raise awareness around reducing household food waste and provide an opportunity to sustainably manage unavoidable food waste. Participants are encouraged to get involved in the local community garden and events, and will receive finished compost to use in their own gardens.

It is hoped that 10-15 households will participate in filling 3 litre caddies which will be dropped off at the community garden on a weekly basis. The project will use a combination of a 200 litre hot bin composter, purchased by LEG, and a standard wooden cold composting bin made by The Workshop Studios at Lochaber HOPE.

Carol Anne Campbell, Kilmallie Community Fridge and Garden Coordinator, said: "I am super excited to be involved with this community composting project, as I believe everybody should have access to the skills and facilities to grow their own food and medicine.

"Compost is the first step in this, closing that loop by diverting food waste from landfill while giving your plants all the nutrients they need - learning to make your own is like giving you a gardening super power!

"I hope the participants will have fun and join our little gardening area of the world, while learning the skills to make effective compost they can use to grow their own produce, how amazing would that be?! I look forward to learning with you all!"

Brenna, HCWP Project Officer for HGFP, said: "Lesley and I are really excited that there's going to be a small-scale community composting pilot scheme at the Kilmallie Community Fridge and Garden. It is hoped that learning from this might enable other places across Lochaber, and the Highlands, to be able to set up their own community composting projects in the future." 

This project may be used as a case study for future communities looking to start something similar, by creating a user guide that helps people through SEPA/APHA regulations, promotion, member guidelines and so on. 

 For more information, please contact Brenna Anderson: brenna@highlandgoodfood.scot