Free compost giveaway at five local Recycling Centres

The compost giveaway is taking place at five local Recycling Centres to celebrate International Compost Week.

Free bagged compost tokens will be given out on Saturday 4, Sunday 5 and Bank Holiday Monday 6 May at five local Recycling Centres next week (Pennyburn, Strathfoyle, Strahans Road, Donemana and Killen) as a result of Council’s food waste recycling drive.

Residents can then return to collect their bag of compost on Saturday May 11, where the Council team will be on site distributing until 4pm.

Compost tokens will be allocated on a first come, first served basis with a maximum of one bag per household, and people are urged to bring ID.

The compost, which has been created from the food waste collected in residents’ brown bin caddies and garden waste, is a high quality product suitable for a wide range of garden uses.

Since the local authority introduced food waste caddies in 2015, almost 30,000 tonnes of food and garden waste has been diverted from landfill and recycled into compost.

Mayor of Derry and Strabane John Boyle is urging everyone to take advantage of the District’s free compost giveaway.

He said: “I’d like to commend the people of Derry City and Strabane for embracing their brown bins and making the effort to recycle food in their caddies.

“It costs twice as much to send food to landfill as it does to recycle it so the switch from black to brown is saving money as well as helping our environment.

“I urge local people to avail of this fantastic free compost scheme by visiting the nearest of the five Recycling Centres and picking up a bag for gardening this Spring.”

Waste Services Manager, Nicola McCool added: “This initiative is the perfect example of our local circular economy in action and underlines the very real benefits to people of disposing of food waste in their brown bin.

“Unwanted food that ends up in landfill is the most polluting type of waste due to the release of harmful gases.

“Brown is the ‘New Black’ in Derry City and Strabane and recycling is a complete win-win for all of us.”

People can continue to do their bit to reduce food waste by re-thinking shopping habits, creating shopping lists, planning meals and using the freezer more effectively. Any food waste can be put into your kitchen caddy and then dropped at the kerbside in your brown bin for collection by Council’s bin crews.

For further information on waste and recycling in the Council visit www.derrystrabane.com/recycling or download the Bin-Ovation app.