Help your garden grow this summer
County schoolchildren have been getting to grips with gardening with the help of Quality Soil Conditioner (QSC) produced in Gloucestershire from food and garden waste.
Following feedback from people visiting Gloucestershire County Council’s Household Recycling Centres (HRCs), the soil conditioner, is now for sale.
QSC is produced from household organic waste currently including all the food waste that is collected in the county.
At £2.50 for a 40 litre bag, QSC provides much needed nutrients for flower and vegetable beds, potting, turf and lawns. It also increases plant resistance to pests and disease.
The school’s gardening club has been using the soil improver for the past few weeks.
Wendy Richmond, headteacher of the school, said: “The gardening club at Benhall Infants has burst in to full bloom, thanks in no small part to the contribution of QSC to the amazing growth of our young bulbs and seedlings.
“Two enterprising Teaching Assistants - Gayle Seyers and Miranda Foster - have been working with the children to grow a range of plants and vegetables, which have then been picked and sold to the parents to raise much needed funds to enable the club to continue.
“The children have loved working with the QSC, as getting stuck in and getting their hands dirty is what young children like doing best.”
The food and garden waste is processed using an in-vessel composting facility at Rose Hill Farm near Dymock.
The food waste (which includes garden waste if it comes from the Cotswold district) has to go through two separate thick concrete tunnels, which allow air to be passed through the waste.
Whilst inside each tunnel, the waste must reach temperatures of at least 60°C for two days continuously. 
The composted waste is finally left outside to mature. Altogether the whole process will take up to 15 weeks – much quicker than traditional composting at home. 
Cllr Stan Waddington, Cabinet Project Champion for Waste said: “Incredibly, a typical household throws away a third of the food they buy. So this makes up a large part of the waste stream.
“Four districts in the county now collect food waste for composting and QSC is an excellent end product – ideal for gardening.” 
You can buy QSC at any of the five council-run HRCs, which are open every day (excluding Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) from 9am until 6.15pm.
ENDS
Gloucestershire County Council has a strategy to recycle and compost at least 60% of household waste by 2020 and an aspiration to reach 70% by 2030.
Based on projected figures for the financial year 2010-2011, the landfill tax bill was £7million pounds.
The county has strict landfill targets to meet up until 2020. Exceeding these steadily reducing quantities will result in fines of up to £150 per tonne for every tonne of biodegradable waste in excess of our allowance.
For more information about recycling and reuse, visit www.recycleforgloucestershire.com.
The county council's five Household Recycling Centres are at the following locations:
a) Fosse Cross - six miles north of Cirencester on the A429
b) Hempsted - one mile from Gloucester docks
c) Oak Quarry - one mile north east of Coleford
d) Pyke Quarry - two miles west of Horsley
e) Wingmoor Farm - 1.5 miles west of Bishop's Cleeve