How Do I Inspire People Into Composting?

A month or so from now I will be hosting a composting event where I volunteer at a local nature park, but am struggling to get people into being interested in it.

The trouble I have is that I've spoken to quite a few people and they usually respond by saying "Oh I tried it a few times a couple of years ago and I didn't get anything, so I'm not very good at it".

Even the suggestion that you will be saving money or helping the environment doesn't seem to encourage people.

How do I convince people to try again? I do wonder if they all had a common problem that could easily be resolved.

Any ideas and also things that I could do at this event would be greatly appreciated. I hope to give away free potted Comfrey root cuttings but I wonder if most people would know what to do with them even with a guide.

 

Its not easy to get folk to change their ways. Most people don't have enough waste at the right time to build a decent sized heap that will cook itself, so they end up with a slimey mess.



You could advise them to add layers of crumpled cardboard to their kitchen waste, this balances out the nitrogen/carbon ratio and dries the heap out so its not that slimey wetness at the end.

C.A.T. did some research into this & found no trace of chemicals from the printed cardboard in the end product. They did find that it worked better with the lid left off.

 

How old are your target audience? Will they be interested in all the creatures that make their home in the compost bin? I have to admit I childishly think my bin is brilliant. I open the lid and its like its own world, full of all sorts of creepy crawlies and slimey things.

How about taking a leaf out of Mr Bloom's book? His world centres around his 'compostarium', and his exaggerated enthusiasm is just a bit contagious.

 

Is there a story behind that photo Zigs? To me that pile of mess doesn't look that bad, it's full of worms as least. I usually don't add a huge amount of waste to add in one go but still manage to get some decent compost after a couple of months. I hardly put any cardboard in mine as well, which is a bit odd.

 

I'm not really sure where my target audience will be. We have a lot of retired people visiting the nature park but we get a lot of families visiting too. Retired people are the ones who gave it a go in the past but don't see the point now, I found. Perhaps because they lack enthusiasm for anything? My hope was to share my enthusiasm for composting with others, but I've just found that people are not interested in giving it a go at all.

That show looks awesome Is that currently on TV? I suppose I could recreate something to get children interested but wonder if I should just concentrate on a certain older age group to begin with.

 

It's 'current' but I think we're between series because I haven't seen it for a while. I guess maybe because its all about gardening and people lose interest in winter when not much will grow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/mr-blooms-nursery

Just noticed from the website, its back on starting tomorrow

 

I was thinking perhaps something see through like an old fish tank, where you could stack layers like a sandwich for people to see what sort of mix to create. At the same time showing them why you shouldn't have all the same thing to help the breaking down process.

 

Thats just Sis's kitchen waste bin, would put some folk off if thats what they had to deal with at the end of it.

 

Do you think parents in this day and age would want to see their children playing with waste, dirt, worms and compost though? I'm not knocking your idea down, but wonder if there are too many overprotective parents around nowadays.

Brilliant idea! Perhaps I could do this with a wormery too. Although would need some kind of drainage.

 

Too much nitrogen then? I see some grass in there too.

 

I think most parents would be fine with it. At least that's the attitude up my way in the north east. When our son was still tiny (ok, even more tiny, he's still only 4), one piece of advise that we received off many, many people, including the new neighbours when we first moved to this house, went like this: "When he drops his sweets on the floor and picks them up to eat them anyway, don't stop him, cos the germs'll build his immune system".

I think there is a perception that parents nowadays are too paranoid about germs, and that's definitely true of some, but those ones tend to be the ones that make the most noise. The rest just get on with things and don't make noise, so they don't stand out, so I think the perception is skewed.

There are some paranoid ones, and you'll never reach them. Its a shame really, because I think kids love getting their hands dirty.

 

Try a cost-benefit slant. There's nowt like profit to encourage interest!

Cost-Benefit of composting.

Free compost to improve the health of garden plants

Less waste sent to landfill and reduced costs to your council and your associated council tax

A significant reduction in CO2 emissions due to the reduction in energy involved in collection and disposal/council composting

A significant reduction in methane production (dependent on local council’s method of disposal of garden waste) which is significantly worse than CO2 as a “greenhouse gas”

Makes a small though important contribution to reduction to global warming and a better global environment for children and grandchildren.

 

I was hoping to keep this at a more economic level than an environmental one, although I do wonder if people really understand the full implications of sending compostable waste to landfill. I should also add that this nature park is built on an ex landfill site and methane regularly escapes. So I suppose it would be quite an opportunity to touch upon the environmental issues.

The local council are being offered the opportunity to get involved in this little event and I don't feel right promising people that their taxes would be reduced if everybody started composting as I can't see my council doing this.

I did some research a few days back and the average garden/household can produce 700lb / 315kg of compost in one year. Does this figure sound right to you guys? Which would equal about £50 a year in compost bought from a garden centre.

I don't think this is a great enough saving to push but thought I would also add that many councils charge for a garden waste wheelie bin to take your waste away. At check around the nearby councils of Essex shows an alarming annual amount, between £25-90 for the lease of one of these bins.

 

Can't see local tax being reduced, but land-fill tax savings by the council would help reduce the need for council tax rises and /or allow the council to spend on services for the community.
It would be well worth talking to someone in the appropriate council department. Our local council is very waste savvy and has been supporting community "Waste Aware" events with cash and resources.