On-site composting – Royal Parks

Since 2002 as part of ISO 14001 registration ‘The Royal Parks’ (Central London) has formally carried out the composting of green waste in the Central Royal Parks (Hyde, St James’s and The Green Parks and Kensington Gardens). The project aimed to demonstrate the sustainable use of green waste arising and to recycle a target of 100% of uncontaminated green waste by the end of 2005, including expired perennial and bedding planting. At the beginning of the 1990s most green waste in the Central Parks was treated as general waste mostly by landfilling. It was then decided to find ways of composting this for environmental and economic reasons. The project allows within a year to produce a multi-purpose compost used mainly as a mulch in shrubberies and newly planted areas but has more recently been used to mulch below the tree canopy of shallow rooting trees such as Beech, to improve their resistance to hot dry weather. The compost has also been effectively used as a soil conditioner in landscape schemes. The 10,000 trees in the Central Parks are producing approximately 3,000 m3 of compost each year. When conversion to compost is complete at Kensington Gardens park, all compost is returned to the Park (Cradle to cradle principle). Project Outcomes: Nearly 100% of uncontaminated green waste is treated within all the Central Royal Parks. Cost savings relate to the avoidance of landfill costs and reduction in transport costs as well as the availability of a quality product that can be used to improve the Parks.

General data

Waste prevention activity data