Nick Gibb MP visited Woodhorn Farm in Oving to see what happens to all the green waste that residents in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton put into their green wheelie bins at the invitation of the owner of the business, John Pitts.
Every day hundreds of lorry loads of green waste - grass clippings, tree branches, pruned shrubs - deliver tonnes of green waste to the premises of Woodhorn Farm and the Woodhorn Group in Oving. Annually, the company takes in 96,000 tonnes of green waste and turns it into 50,000 tonnes of high quality compost.
Woodhorn Farm is an organic farm and originally John Pitts was using the green waste from the farm to help fertilise his fields in an organic way. Over the years he has expanded and now takes green waste from local authorities such as Arun and Chichester.
The process of composting takes about 14 weeks. The green waste is shredded and mixed to ensure there is sufficient oxygen.
Too much grass cutting waste in the mix and there will too little oxygen and the bugs that turn the greenery into compost die. The shredded waste is pushed into large piles and turned regularly by excavators to keep the mixture oxygenated.
The final compost is then screened for plastics and other solids and is milled to the consistency we see in bags of compost we buy from local nurseries.
Nick Gibb said: “John Pitts’s business is the very best example of sustainability. The Woodhorn Group, and their highly trained staff, prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of green waste going into landfill. And they ensure that, instead, it is turned into high quality compost that nourishes gardens and farms. It is an inspirational local business that sells its final product far and wide.”
Photo 1: Nick Gibb with John Pitts. The pile behind is about 12 weeks through the process. The steam is water evaporating due to the heat generated by the compositing process.
Photo 2: Nick Gibb with John Pitts with the final finished product. High quality compost ready for sale and distribution.