All of College’s sites store and utilize our compost, but due to storage limitations and the capacity to turn over the vast amounts of green waste we collect, we have previously seen a surplus, and this often ended up in College skips; something our Head of Grounds, Rob Eason, was keen to address and rectify.

In June this year Happy Earth Soil, a small company based in Oxfordshire run by Katie and Adrian McClelland, contacted Rob about the potential of collecting our green waste. They have two parcels of farmland where they make their compost and do everything from sorting College’s leaf and grass clippings to making the compost, sieving it and bagging it ready for sale.

Our initial agreement saw Katie and Adrian start using surplus collected leaves and grass from University College Sportsground and it is hoped the arrangement can be extended further to our sites at Staverton, Harberton Mead and Main Site.

Rob explains: “It has always been a frustration of mine that our surplus green waste could not be fully utilized and can end up in skips, especially in the autumn when leaves drop or when ‘boxing up’ grass clipping through the growing season. Recently we have had new compost bins installed at Staverton Road and we are looking at ways to add similarly to this across all our other sites. My team have now vastly reduced skip usage and in 2022 we hope to be skip-free as more compost bins are added. It’s also hoped our arrangement with Katie and Adrian at Happy Earth Soil will be a longstanding one, which helps shift our surplus green waste and hits the sustainability goals of my team and that of the College.”

Find out more about Happy Earth Soil on their website.

Univ will continue reporting on sustainability initiatives from across College so please look out for these on our dedicated Sustainability at Univ page, our News Hub and social media channels – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Published: 6 December 2021

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