Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Have you bought a 'green cone'?
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust carried out a survey of users in the county on behalf of the council and results show overwhelmingly that people are pleased.

Three-quarters of Green Cone users say they have reduced the weight and volume of their waste. Not only that but a third of users say they have reduced the amount of food waste they produce and nearly one in ten have changed their buying habits.

Of those polled, 83% rate the Green Cone as good or satisfactory. Eight out of ten people would recommend it to a friend. One of the particular problems raised was that people have to dig a large hole as the lower part of the Green Cone is buried in the ground. This is essential to avoid vermin problems.

The council will be looking at making it clear in publicity material what is required to install a Green Cone and so reduce the small numbers who felt it didn't meet their expectations.

The top products put in the Green Cone include cooked starchy food, cooked meat, poultry and fish and bones and carcasses. This is good news because all of these would otherwise have been landfilled.

The results of the Green Johanna are even more encouraging. Of those polled, 94% found the Green Johanna simple to install. The Johanna needs to be fitted together but sits on the ground rather than requiring a hole to be dug.

Nearly 75% of users say they have reduced the volume of waste in their bin, 29% have reduced the amount of food they have bought and 9% changed their food buying habits.

The Johanna has a higher satisfaction rating with more than 98% of people rating it satisfactory or good and 97% saying they would recommend it to a friend. However people are putting less food in the Johanna than in the Green Cone. That may be because it can also take garden waste so it is being used as a traditional composter.

Therefore the council will in future offer kitchen caddies free of charge to people who buy the Johanna to encourage them to put more of their kitchen waste in it.

Andy Conn, Wiltshire County Council's waste services manager, said: "We are very pleased with the results of this survey which show the vast majority of people have found their food waste digester a valuable recycling tool. Not only that, but significant numbers of people are actually changing their buying habits because they can see the impact they are having on the amount they put in the bin each week."

The council began promoting the digesters in 2007. They can take all food waste including cooked meat, pasta and fish. Studies have shown that a third of the average household bin in the county is made up of food waste. At the moment this is taken by lorry to be buried in a landfill where it rots giving off the greenhouse gas methane.

The council faces ever-rising taxes on the amount of waste sent to landfill. So the food waste digesters are one way of diverting thousands of tonnes from being buried and also saving money.

There are two types of digester. The Green Cone takes just food waste and uses natural processes to break it down. The larger Green Johanna can also take garden waste and produces compost. Both are heavily subsidised by the council with the Green Cone costing £20 and the Green Johanna £25 (including delivery charges) instead of £69.55 and £98.99 respectively.

Andy Conn added: "It's important we offer residents a range of recycling options. The Green Cones and Green Johannas are not going to be suitable for everyone but I am sure there are many more people out there who would find them useful. We will be renewing our efforts to promote the digesters as well as offering the free kitchen caddies so we can make them even more effective. They offer a simple and effective way of cutting your household bin contents by a third, saving us all money and helping reduce harmful methane emissions."

For more information about waste and recycling in Wiltshire follow this link.