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Learn about Community Composting.

Your local area could benefit from a community composting scheme, which provides loads of benefits for the environment and your community. Turn waste into high quality compost, volunteer with others in your area, and strengthen your village’s community spirit.

In smaller, more remote villages the impact of a scheme like this is huge. Not just for the environment, but also reducing social isolation, enhancing your wellbeing through being outdoors and through physical movement.

Case Study - The Tatsfield Community Composting Project

In 2024, the volunteers of Tatsfield’s Community Composting Project (TCCP) produced over 29,000 litres of their ‘Black Gold’ garden compost through aerobic composting and, so far, it looks like they will easily exceed this in 2025. The compost is then available for the allotmenteers and people of Tatsfield to use, for a small donation. Compost, created through schemes like Tatsfield’s, is nutrient-rich and has multiple benefits for the soil, including improved water retention, and the soil’s productivity – miles better for the planet than synthetic fertilisers. Tatsfield is a relatively isolated village (due to its location and lack of public transport) located in Tandridge, Surrey, on the top of the North Downs – here, a strong community spirit has developed. Approximately 40% of the village are members of the Tatsfield Horticultural Society, and many more are actively involved in the Community Composting Project through volunteering or donations of green waste.

In 2009, through local consultation and community engagement the journey for a new allotment plot and community garden began. Now, with a 25-year lease, the Parish Council has sub-let the plot’s management and operation to the Tatsfield Horticultural Society (THS). The THS is over 120 years old and is a voluntary organisation whose objective is to promote knowledge and interest in horticulture, conservation, ecology and the environment for the benefit and well-being of the local community. With an overwhelming amount of time and support from the local community’s residents and businesses, the site is an area where all members of the community can gather to socialise, communicate and enjoy the far-reaching views.

The Tatsfield Community Composting Project (TCCP) has been running since 2001, but has been at the present site since 2011. The scheme is run entirely by volunteers, and often hosts Duke of Edinburgh Award for young people. The popularity of the scheme was such that, at times, the incoming green waste couldn’t be processed. With the aid of another grant from Surrey County Council, a second, larger, machine was purchased, thus speeding up the processing of the incoming green waste.

  • Improve community spirit and take part in a project to benefit your local area
  • Mitigate climate change through appropriately disposing of food waste, using no synthetic fertilisers, and improving soil health
  • Free-up space in your garden from more growing! Take your compost to a community site and receive a better return of nutrient-rich soil
  • Get the whole community involved - manure from local stables, food waste from your child’s school, fallen leaves, hedge trimmings and branches from your garden are all accepted
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