Big Heap 12 Sweet Smell of Success

On Saturday, 250 cars collected a free bag of Black gold from the composting facility at Mearclough Lane, Sowerby Bridge.

The Big Heap events have been running for three years and proved to be extremely popular, and attract a wide range of people who are interested in gardening recycling and the environment,

Mark Dempsey, Support Services Manager for Calderdale Council Parks and Street scene service, said: "With leaf fall fast approaching we need to create space at Milner Royd. By holding these events it helps raise public awareness on recycling and how the Safer Cleaner Greener section deal with the issues of waste generated from he streets of Calderdale .

Big Heap12 is part of week long series of events which is using 500 tons of compost from the Calderdale streets and parks in community projects around the borough, and on Wednesday the council hosted a seminar for other local Authorities on the process used to create the compost from street cleaning and parks green waste."

"The composting project enables us to improve green recycling targets, comply with environmental legislation and improve public awareness of the benefits of compost, as well as reducing the amount of street waste being sent to landfill. The demand and popularity of the scheme has now led to another compost giveaway to be held on Saturday 18th September at Milner Royd," states Mark .

The innovative recycling scheme produces compost by mixing green waste from parks with fallen leaves collected by street cleaning teams.

The scheme won a Civic Trust Award for environmental innovation last year, and also includes using the compost as a top dressing in Calderdale parks. Links have been created with schools and the community, who have got involved in using the compost to plant native wildflower areas in Calderdale parks.