Mayfield composting workshop to tackle brown bins issue

Following the controversial introduction of brown bin charges, a community group is to hold a workshop on composting garden waste.
Pic Lisa Ferguson 21/01/2019: 

Stuart Forbes


 of Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust - which is to run a workshop on composting garden waste on February 2, given the controversy surrounding the brown bin charge.Pic Lisa Ferguson 21/01/2019: 

Stuart Forbes


 of Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust - which is to run a workshop on composting garden waste on February 2, given the controversy surrounding the brown bin charge.
Pic Lisa Ferguson 21/01/2019: Stuart Forbes of Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust - which is to run a workshop on composting garden waste on February 2, given the controversy surrounding the brown bin charge.

Midlothian Council’s decision to charge residents £35 for uplifting their brown bins caused outrage when it was announced in November.

Now Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust (MAEDT) has decided to run a workshop on February 2 at 11am at the garden in Mayfield Public Park explaining how to re-use garden waste.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Volunteer co-ordinator Stuart Forbes explained more about the workshop and why composting your garden waste is good for your garden.

He said: “Given the controversy surrounding the brown bin charge we’ve decide to run a workshop on composting garden waste in our community garden.

“It will last a few hours but will teach people everything they need to know to successfully compost the complete range of garden waste.

“Obviously they probably want to save the bin charge coming in, but even for its own sake home composting is a good thing.

“It takes nutrients away from the plants and it puts it back into your garden.

“It’s kind of a no-brainer really. The problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to do it, so we just want to show people how it’s easy to do.

“Even using the brown bin you can do it at home. If you have got time to cut stuff down and put it in your brown bin, then you have got time to do composting. If you have got 20 minutes every so often, that’s really it. It’s kind of a lost art but we want to demystify the process.”

Stuart explained that the trust has another course planned to run this year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “Hopefully we get a big turnout for this workshop. The brown bin charge has annoyed quite a few people.

“This is just a taster of things to come at the community garden. Towards the end of next month we will be starting MAEDT Delicious – a course on growing your own fruit and vegetables, taught by experienced volunteers that will run throughout the year, taking people from planting to harvesting and cooking their own food.

“And obviously if you are home composting that’s even better because you can return the waste back into the garden. So the compsoting course is almost a prelude to this course.”

For more information about the composting workshop email [email protected] or call 0131 663 5317.