Let’s Go Green… …Council service to help gardens bloom

Green fingered borough residents are now able to sign up for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Garden Waste Service for 2015.

The service, which starts from Monday 16 February, just as gardens across the borough spring to life and keep their owners busy gardening, mowing lawns and trimming hedges, continues until mid-December.

Residents will be given a week day collection day, dependant on which area of the borough they live, along with two sacks to collect all their grass, trimmings, leaves, twigs, prunings and weeds when they sign up.

The service will continue to be charged by the number of collections left when residents join, meaning that any residents who sign up once the service has already started will only be charged for how many collections they will receive.

Everything collected in the large hard wearing green garden waste bags is composted locally to produce bags of Pro-Grow, high quality organic soil conditioner to help gardens grow. Last year over 6,000 people in the borough joined the scheme, sending an impressive1700 tonnes of garden waste for composting.

Cabinet Member for Community Services and Environment Cllr Hayley Eachus said: “Residents shouldn’t be putting their garden waste into their grey bin and the garden waste collection service offers residents a convenient and environmentally friendly way to recycle it.

“More and more households sign up every year which shows how popular the service is and by signing up residents can save trips to the household recycling centre with their garden waste.”

For more information, or to sign up, visit www.basingstoke.gov.uk/go/gardenwaste or call the council on 01256 844844

…Could you be a community champion?

Would you like to meet new people, learn new skills and share your knowledge and know-how with your local community?

Hampshire County Council are looking for volunteer ‘champions’ to help spread messages about how people can save money by throwing away less food and successfully making compost at home.

Champions will be involved in passing on tips and advice to help local residents make the most of the food they buy, in turn helping to reduce the amount of waste disposed of in the county.
The type of activities you could be involved in as a champion are:

• Giving talks to interested groups, such as community groups, students and businesses.
• Identifying and attend suitable local events to promote food and garden tips and advice.
• Leading groups in activities to show how they can reduce food waste through smart shopping, meal planning, storage and using leftovers in new recipes.
• Demonstrating how to make compost.
• Contributing to articles for websites, community newsletters and the local press.

Volunteers will be asked to commit around 30 hours over a year, which could include some evenings and weekends. An interest in food and/or prior experience of home composting would be helpful but not necessary as full training will be given. You will be supported by staff and other volunteers.

Applicable travel expenses will be paid and volunteering can be a rewarding way to learn new skills, gain confidence and obtain references to help with further career development.

For more information email: waste.prevention@hants.gov.uk, or call Zoe Cooke on 01962 832286 or Mike Culver on 01962 846764.