The composting process shared - School tours at Olus

The composting process shared - School tours at Olus

Posted May 18, 2012 by: Sarah Hagan

The first site tour of the Spring is always a good sign, as we have a break from school tours over the Winter. I know that once we re- start tours hopefully, the weather should be making a turn for the better (although this year was certainly not the case!)

Warnham Primary School combined their visit to Olus with a visit to Sussex Wildlife Trust at Woods Mill, Small Dole and it all seemed to fall into place very successfully.

Having met the teacher, Amanda Gillet, before the visit, she had told me that when asking the children where they thought their green recycling goes to, one of the answers had been China, I knew this may be hard work to explain our process to them. However, I need not have worried as the children had plenty of questions and enthusiasm to find out more. Once they were all visible and safe in their high visibility jackets, the boys, in particular, liked to see all the heavy duty machinery, tractors, diggers and of course the dustcarts themselves tipping the green waste.

I explained the process of composting to them, and showed them the various stages throughout the site. The teachers and parent helpers all seemed to learn something new too. To me, the fascinating thing about our process is that nothing is added to the compost, it just purely relies on the natural process of decay, and the thermalfile bugs doing their job. Of course we do take things out of our compost, as in the final screening process we remove any metal or plastic that may have accidently been put into the green waste.

So if your school is working on a recycling or environmental topic at the moment you are more than welcome to book a small tour by speaking to Sarah at Olus on 01273 492 752.