Household composting bins are collected by your local waste collection authority and transported to one of 4 composting facilities.
| Council | Composting facility |
|---|---|
| Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils | Material Change, Creeting St Mary |
| East Suffolk Council | Biogen Composting Facility at Lackford |
| Ipswich Borough Council | Material Change, Creeting St Mary |
| West Suffolk Council | FCC Composting Facility, Red Lodge |
Windrow composting
Windrow composting is used to process garden waste only and is not able to deal with food waste. This is because if food waste is included, it needs to go through a more intensive 'in-vessel' composting process.
Creeting St Mary, Lackford and Red Lodge composting facilities operate 'windrow' composting systems. These composting facilities deal with kerbside collected garden waste from local authorities, material deposited at Suffolk Recycling Centres and green waste from local landscapers.
Garden waste only is delivered to the site and following inspection and removal of contaminants is shredded and placed into long rows (windrows) to compost. After stabilisation, the compost is screened to around 28mm to make a variety of compost products. Oversize material is then put through the process again. Both sites produce compost to the British Standard PAS: 100 which means the material is checked through quality control and lab testing throughout the process to ensure it is suitable for horticulture. To reach this standard the material needs to mature for a total period of not less than 6 weeks.
Finished compost is used locally in either larger scale agriculture or bagged up at Material Change for sale to the public at all 11 Suffolk Recycling Centres.