Almost a fifth of the rubbish thrown away each week is made up of food scraps and garden waste, which is equal to around 5.5 million tonnes going to landfill each year.

Composting is the simplest form of recycling, as the waste is rotted down to feed the soil for growing crops and plants.

Last year we composted over 28,000 tonnes of green waste collected through our Household Recycling Centres and kerbside collections.

Garden Waste kerbside collections are run by your local district council. For more information on how you can sign up to receive these collections, contact your local district council:

West Wiltshire Residents Please Note - It has been necessary to remove cardboard and food waste from the West Wilts garden waste collection. Whilst cardboard does compost (and small amounts can therefore be placed in home composters), the quantity previously being collected was having an adverse effect on the quality of the end product.

Compost has to meet the quality standard BSI PAS100 2005 to be economically viable for resale. Failing to meet this standard undermines the marketability of the end product. Therefore the decision to remove cardboard and food waste from garden waste collections was taken to improve the quality of the compost created.

Why not compost your garden and food waste? Click here for more information.

What is the collected garden waste used for?

Garden waste is chipped or shredded at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and transformed into organic compost. This process can take anything from 12-20 weeks.

The compost created, which is approved by the Soil Association, can be purchased though Hills or from the county's ten Household Recycling Centres - either by bag or bulk.

Click here to find your nearest Household Recycling Centre.