A happy face to welcome visitors

Compost Awareness Week
The Stokes Wood Allotment Composting Demonstration site , Leicester was opened on the first day 5th May of Compost Awareness week. 
The Photos show the site, the first tour, making Seedballs on the site, the compost safari in the site pavilion (the building is large enough for the safari area to be separated form the refreshment area) and the best two painted compost bins.
The pavilion is available for hire for meetings and events and may also be booked for composting talks and tours of the site.

Sunday 5 May – Saturday 11 May 2019

International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) is the largest and most comprehensive education initiative of the compost industry. It is celebrated during the first full week of May

Throughout the week of ICAW, community and business events are held in a countries across the world to encourage and celebrate composting. All types of composting – from backyard to large-scale are promoted. Events include tours of compost facilities, Workshops as part of school gardening programs, compost workshops on allotments and community gardens , lectures and talks on composting,  compost roadshows by local councils and compost bin offers.  

UK

Master Composters, Allotment Societies  and local councils will be organising events over the country during ICAW.  Details of the UK theme do not appear to have been published yet (Jan 2019) but the for most of us the aim is to promote composting,  provide support for local composters.

AUSTRALIA

Better Soil, Better Life, Better Future

 International Compost Awareness Week Australia is a week of activities, events and publicity to improve awareness of the importance of  compost, a valuable organic resource and to promote compost use, knowledge and products. Composting helps  reduce carbon pollution by avoiding landfilling organic materials and helping to build healthier soils.

ICAW Australia is an initiative of the Centre for Organic Research & Education (CORE), a not-for-profit organisation conducting year round organic research, education and awareness activities.

USA

 The USA theme for this year is Cool the Climate - Compost!. The meaning behind this year’s theme is that there are many ways to help reduce our carbon footprint and reduce climate change  and adding compost to the soil is one means of doing this.

The ICAW Committee is looking for an individual (or team of individuals) in each state, who is willing to lead International Compost Awareness Week in their home state. It's easy to be involved, especially if you are already celebrating ICAW! If you are interested or need more details, contact Beth Simone, bethsimone@compostfoundation.org

Sunday 5 May – Saturday 11 May 2019

 ICAW provides the opportunity for  Allotment Societies across the country to promote allotment gardening and demonstrate their commitment to reducing waste sent to landfill and good environmental practice

Throughout the week of ICAW, community and business events are held across the world to encourage and celebrate composting.  Events include tours of compost sites  and allotment facilities, school talks and workshops,  compost workshops on allotments, talks and  lectures as well as  publicity on local TV, radio and in the press.

While Master Composters,  Garden Organic,  local councils   and others will be organising events across the country during the week the  network of local allotments in villages, towns and cities  could take the lead in ensuring maximum  community involvement.

Promoting local society events

Publicity is the key to increasing awareness of composting. Use social media asking people to share the posting. Issue a press release to local papers and radio stations. It is helpful to have a single point of contact  for the site activities and provide the contact details of  this  spokesperson on all literature. 

Posters  still provide an invaluable means of increasing local awareness.  In addition to displaying posters on allotment notice board ask for them to be displayed on  local council notice boards, community centres, village halls, schools and in  local shops and businesses.

School workshops and sessions

Sessions in Schools provide an excellent way of promoting composting both by means of talks to Assemblies, practical help with composting in the school garden  or workshops such as Compost Safari’s.

 Details of composting activities for schools can be found at ww.carryoncomposting.com/142941457

Allotment open days

Compost week offers the opportunity for the Society to demonstrate that it is a real community asset by inviting  the public to a tour of the site showing how the plot holders approach composting and turn organic waste into a useful product  to be used to improve the soil on the site.

Talks

Village halls, Community Centres and Social Clubs  provide a good venue  for talks by a Society member or a local Master Composter describing how home composting will benefit the community by reducing waste. The local council could also be offered part of the session to present details of their waste disposal systems.  It is hoped to have a series of slides available to be downloaded shortly.

This  Powerpoint presentation presentation can be used by Garden Clubs, allotments and schools to promote composting during Compost Awareness week and to provide information to encourage people to start composting their kitchen and garden waste.

The initial slides give details of the waste produced by households in England and the proportion that could be composted.