Green garden waste makes up a third of the rubbish we throw away, and it could all be recycled. Garden waste collected in the rubbish bins causes environmental problems such as greenhouse gases like methane, land, air and water pollution as well as loss of land. Waste disposal costs are also rising which in turns costs the council tax payers. Composting is a cheaper alternative.

Hart District Council is encouraging people to compost their garden waste at home or take it to the Household Waste Recycling Centres where it will be recycled for them.

Residents in the 1,200 household trial area can also buy sacks from the Council for their garden waste. These are collected and the material delivered to a composting site. The scheme will help the council to see how successful a similar scheme will be if it was offered to all households in the district.

Stuart Robbens, the Council’s Recycling Officer said, "The scheme so far has proved very successful with over 1,000 sacks sold in the first three weeks. Even the bags we are selling are made from recycled plastic which comes from plastic milk bottles collected in Hampshire recycling schemes."

The garden waste is taken to Little Bushywarren Copse composting site near Basingstoke. This site is operated by Hampshire Waste Services who currently process 18,000 tonnes of garden vegetation waste every year to produce Pro-Grow soil conditioner.

Pro-Grow can be bought in 30 litre bags for £1.95 at all the Household Waste Recycling Centres or loose at £4.00 + VAT for one cubic metre (just under one tonne) at Little Bushywarren Copse.