The Scottish New Generation Group visited Dundee City Council's Composting Facility on 17th May 2005. The site manager Peter Goldie gave delegates an interesting and informative tour around the site.

Dundee City Council offers a separate kerbside collection for green waste from domestic properties. The scheme has been expanded through the years and at present approximately 26,000 properties throughout the city has chosen to take advantage of the service.

Since its inception in 1990, the green waste collected through the Council's Brown Bin system has been taken to a centrally located processing facility at Riverside, Dundee. This material is mixed with botanical waste deposited at Recycling Centres and is processed by means of an open windrow system. The site is located on the old landfill site in Dundee. The tour incorporated the waste reception and inspection areas, the shredding and mixing of the waste and windrow formation. The windrows are monitored at a number of points for temperature and this information is used to indicate when turning is necessary. The windrows move down the site, as they become more mature.

The finished compost is then screened to different sizes depending upon final use. Dundee City Council then sell the finished product as Discovery Compost. This is available loose for collection or delivery. Dundee City Council are working with a number of different organisations to look at the benefits of using compost in different applications.

This highly enjoyable visit was concluded with a question and answer session. Thanks to Dundee City Council and Peter Goldie for allowing the New Generation Group to visit the site.