Bents at Glazebury, Cheshire have converted a giant compost heap of plant and green waste collected over the past 20 years into growing media for use on their nurseries and local allotments.

All plant and green waste from the nurseries and garden centre has been stored on site – but the pile of well-rotted material had got too big.

Bents called in a local farmer who specialises in recycling plant waste to convert the heap into compost, using specialist equipment,  shredding and sieving the waste to prodiuce a high-grade growing medium.

It took more just three days to convert molre than 20 years of garden waste into 1,000 cubic tonnes of quality compost, which will be used throughout the centre, on the nurseries and in Bents’ environmental gardens. It will also be available to allotment holders at Bents’ community allotments across the road.

“Despite all our growth and development we are plant people at heart,” said MD Matthew Bent, “and have always been hugely committed to growing, nurturing and protecting the environment around us. Our Five Green Footprints outline our aims for a healthier and greener future. This latest project is in line with our first footprint, recycling, which outlines our commitment to recycling and composting whilst actively encouraging our customers to do the same through the promotion of compost bins.”

The other four Green Footprints are; Water Efficiency - Bents 3.5 million gallon reservoir was built in 1976 and helps reduce Bents impact on the environment by collecting all rain and run off water throughout the Centre to be re-used on the nurseries and plant area;  Healthy Living; Social Responsibility and Trading Fairly and Responsibly.