Volunteer in community composting

Our community composting sites across the city depend on support from local volunteers to maintain them. Find out more about how you can get involved below.

Why volunteer?

Help Reduce Carbon Emissions

Community composting keeps the entire journey from kitchen to compost local and low-carbon, avoiding emissions caused by transport and industrial processing. Last year, our volunteers helped their members to compost over 185 tonnes of food waste.

Meet Your Community

As a volunteer, you’re not only learning a new skill, but you’re also becoming more connected to the people around you. It gives you a chance to get outside, chat to your neighbours, and learn what’s happening in your community.

Some schemes are more active and hold their own social events like picnics and pub meets.

Support Healthy Soil

Compost made locally is packed with microorganisms that maintain soil fertility and biodiversity. It’s unlike anything you can buy in the shop, plus it’s completely free! Members of the scheme get first access to the compost, so you can take home buckets of peat-free compost.

Jump the Waitlist

Our composting project is very popular; we have 50+ schemes across the city with 1300 households using them. Many schemes are full with waiting lists. Volunteer monitors get to jump the queue and start using the bins straight away!

What’s involved?

The main task of the compost monitors is to turn the compost once a week and fish out any items that shouldn’t be in the boxes.

Most volunteers spend an average of 15 minutes a week caring for the compost.

Occasional tasks include inducting new members, sharing out the compost and reporting any repairs.

You don’t need to have any experience, we offer full training and you’ll be sharing the role with another volunteer. All equipment is provided.

For more information about the main tasks and responsibilities of compost monitors, see our volunteer task sheet below.

Volunteer task sheet

Sign up to volunteer

If you’d like to get involved and have read through our information sheet, please email [email protected] and include the scheme name you’d like to join.