Hampshire's successful composting scheme which turns green garden waste into an organic soil conditioner known as Pro-Grow, is once again to feature on television.

The Channel 4 programme "Real Gardens" tunes in to composting this week (Friday 18 June) with local couple Jem and Drew who are receiving expert advice from Carol Klein on their garden in Southsea. The programme shows Jem dropping off his garden cuttings and weeds at the recycling centre in Paulsgrove and then buying some bags of Pro-Grow to go on his garden.

"This is a win-win situation" said Hampshire Waste's Composting Manager, Peter Mills, "for we are not only removing this amount from the disposal stream but also producing, as a by-product, an organic soil conditioner high in nutrients which can be returned to improve the fertility of local gardens."

Peter says the visit to the recycling centre was an eye-opener for the TV personalities: "They were certainly surprised at the amount of material on site. One of them bought a bike for personal use and there was a lot of interest shown in an aluminium door frame. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned up later in the programme recycled into a cold frame."

The composting scheme has previously caught the attention of the BBC, when Hampshire's own Pippa Greenwood and Alan Titchmarch were seen digging in Pro-Grow on Gardener's World.

15 June 1999