Date: 04/03/2008
High Peak's profusion of trees creates a beautiful canopy across the borough during spring and summer -- but until recently, the 150 tonnes of leaves they shed each autumn posed a huge recycling challenge.
Now the Borough Council is combining the fallen leaves with the 520 tonnes of 'green' garden and cardboard waste, collected from homes across the borough in January, to turn them into rich compost instead of methane-producing waste, destined for landfill.
Leaves swept up by the council's street cleansing team are being mixed with waste collected from householders' green-lidded bins at a Derbyshire County Council site in Chesterfield before being transported, as a temporary measure, to enrich farmland in Doncaster.
But the good news is that, when the County Council's new waste transfer site opens at Waterswallows, Buxton, hopefully later this year, all 'green' waste, including fallen leaves and Christmas tree chippings, will be processed locally from 2009.
And the intention is that, eventually, the resulting compost will be available for resale there if, as the law requires, the process is licensed by the State Veterinary Service and Environment Agency.
"We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful area, with lots of trees, but collecting their fallen leaves each autumn is a huge task for our street cleansing team," said Councillor John Haken, High Peak Borough Council's Executive Member for the Environment.
"As part of our ongoing commitment to recycling, we are now combining the leaves with the 'green' waste, collected across the borough, to create an environmentally preferable alternative to methane-producing waste that would otherwise have to go to landfill sites.
"Hopefully, when the County Council's new waste transfer site at Waterswallows is up and running, the process will be even more eco-friendly."
Photo: Chargehand sweeper operator Oliver Bagshaw with fallen leaves mixed with 'green' waste to create a rich compost.