International Compost Awareness Week
From 3 to 9 May is International Compost Awareness Week, or ICAW for short. This global campaign highlights the crucial role of composting in creating healthy soils, reducing waste and combating climate change. This year’s theme, ‘Compost! Feed the Soil that Feeds Us’, aims to encourage people to think about the valuable way in which garden waste returns nutrients to the soil, enabling food to be grown again.
Although composting is not traditionally regarded as intangible cultural heritage, it is linked to certain heritage practices, embodies a rich history and encompasses a wealth of traditional knowledge that has been passed down through the generations. Would you like to find out more about this practice? Be sure to check out ‘Composting: Old agricultural techniques as inspiration’ on our website.
Would you like to get involved with this heritage yourself? Here are a few tips you can put into practice this week:
- Make use of the food waste collection service
- Sort your waste
- Learn how to compost at home
- Use compost in your vegetable garden or community garden
Did you know there is an ICAW Poster Competition every year? This year, Endurance Oye from Nigeria is the winner. In his poster, Endurance shows how the earth transforms what we throw away into food and new life. He demonstrates that composting can be seen as a living, breathing cycle of resilience and transformation.
Become a heritage practitioner yourself this week and get involved in composting!
