Hillingdon Allotment News 13: How much am I worth

How much am I worth?

You may have noticed that the multi purpose compost that you buy seems to contain less and less peat and more of other material. Certainly at the cheaper end of the scale, where I tend to buy, one will find bits of unshredded wood shavings, sticks and other bits and pieces. Now it just so happens that this coincides with several items that have come to my notice of late, all related in a roundabout sort of way. I like many others these days am conscious of identity fraud and take appropriate steps by shredding any documents that provide clues as to where I live or any other records. It therefore came as a bit of a shock one week to find that one of our recycling bags had been left behind. To cut a long story short, I was told that the sorting machine does not like shredded paper as it tends to clog it up. (I make no comment here).

Separately I have found out that shredding paper cuts through the fibres and reduces the amount that can be used for recycling, as short fibres cannot be used and are a waste product. However researches at the University of Warwick have made an important discovery. By replacing 20 per cent of the volume of traditional potting composts with waste fibres from recycled paper, they can reduce by up to 72 per cent the incidence of diseases such as damping off, wilts and various root rots, as well as reducing the cost to the environment by reducing the volume of peat being used.

In future I shall short circuit this process, and compost my shredded documents along with all the other material. So if you want to know how much I am worth, then you’ll have to dig up my runner beans to find out!

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