Turning Waste into Soil
Right in the heart of Winson Green, Birmingham, Warm Earth are starting a small composting revolution. Taking food waste from our local primary school, food pantry and other local contributors, waste quickly becomes beautiful nutrient rich soil ready and perfect for growing.
There is something very satisfying about seeing our waste which would otherwise find its way to landfill, release methane into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change, instead, find its way back into the carbon circle of life.
An amazing group of volunteers turn up to the Foundry Field in Winson Green every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to process the waste. First the waste is shredded and mashed up. Then carbon-rich sawdust and woodchip is added to react with our nitrogen-rich green waste in a 50:50 ratio. The result is hot compost! Within 24 hours the compost can reach temperatures of up to 70 degrees celsius - optimising microbial activity meaning our waste breaks down faster, producing compost in 2-3 months. Such heat allows us to compost meat and bones as well as vegetable waste.
The magic doesn’t stop there. At Warm Earth we are experimenting with harnessing the heat produced by the compost in one of our ‘hot beds.’ We pass water through the compost and then pass the heated water through our growing beds enabling us to extend the growing season, keeping off the frost.
One of our hot beds. Heat from the compost is used to warm the soil in the bed, extending the growing season
I don’t know about you but I can often find myself feeling anxious and depressed thinking about the climate crisis. I think that those feelings often come from a sense of helplessness. However actions like composting offers me a seed of hope that there are real and actionable ways of making our world a better and more sustainable place to live. Working as a community to grow and compost together may be a small but powerful step forward in creating a greener, healthier future. Linked with this is the importance of getting our children involved. We have the real privilege of working alongside our local primary school at Warm Earth and a key aim for us is educating and empowering the next generation to be more conscious of waste and aware of the benefits of working with rather than against nature. We do this through offering Geography lessons and after school eco clubs.
If you live locally why not consider become part of the composting revolution? You can donate your food waste, volunteer or buy some of our beautiful compost, pop down to the Foundry Field on James Turner Street during our opening times or email us at warmearthbrum@gmail.com.
Our volunteers mixing the food waste with sawdust.