Doncaster residents can win a state-of-the-art compost bin

A new campaign to encourage even more residents to get the bug is being launched by the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR) Waste Partnership, with some great competition prizes on offer.

Up for grabs in a social media competition are high speed state-of-the-art Hotbin composters which can produce organic homemade compost in as little as 30-90 days.

Instead of throwing away garden and food waste, it can be transformed into a top quality fertiliser for plants and vegetables, suppressing plant diseases and pests, and reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.

Composting for just one year can save greenhouse gases equivalent to all the carbon dioxide produced by a kettle for one year, or a washing machine for three months.

The launch of this year’s campaign will coincide with International Compost Awareness Week from May 1-7.

Residents of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield are invited to take part in the competition which will be run across all Waste Less South Yorkshire social media platforms.

Entrants will need to fill in a short form and the closing date is May 23.

There are composting blogs on the wasteless-sy.co.uk website and campaign posts can also be found by searching #SouthYorkshireComposts on social media.

Abi Reid is Community Education Liaison Officer based at Manvers, the award-winning waste treatment facility at Manvers which diverts 97 per cent of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham household waste from landfill.

“Composting at home gets more use out of garden and food waste and saves space in bins and money on fertilisers for the garden, so it’s beneficial for the environment and your pocket,” she said.

“We know many people are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, and home composting is one way of doing this which brings extra benefits in the garden.”

Previous competition winner Lynn Evans from Doncaster is testatment to this.

“We’ve been composting for a few years now as we have an allotment,” she said.

“The Hotbin was easy to set up following the enclosed instructions. I definitely recommend composting as it’s a great way to add nutrients to the soil. Thank you for the wonderful competition and prize.”