HERRISLEA HOUSE HOTEL CONTRIBUTES TO COPE’S COMPOST PROJECT Wednesday, 07 June 2006 COPE Ltd is partnering with Herrislea House Hotel on a new recycling project involving a large industrial compost machine, Big Hanna, and the hotel’s surplus cardboard.
The initiative, supported by Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Enterprise, is designed to generate high quality compost to feed the social enterprise’s onsite half-acre nursery.
Commenting on the project, recycling manager of COPE Ltd, Vic Thomas, said: “We aimed to target one premises in Shetland and process its surplus cardboard in the compost machine. We also add the waste generated in our own kitchen and café and the result is a high quality compost that we use to reduce conventional bought-in compost for the trees and shrubs in our nursery. These plants are locally propagated for sale to the general public.
“We have been collecting cardboard from Herrislea House Hotel for three months and the partnership is proving very successful. We collect as much cardboard as possible from the hotel, when it is available. The Swedish-designed machine has the capacity to digest 200 – 250 kg of waste per week!
“This is a pilot project, which we hope will demonstrate to small communities how composting should be done. We are already seen as leaders in the field of in vessel temperature controlled composting systems. In the long term, we would like to become a consultancy for this type of system, offering training and support to prospective buyers. I think the potential for Big Hanna in this country is huge.”
Proprietor of Herrislea House Hotel, Marjorie Williamson, commented: “We are delighted to be working with COPE Ltd on this worthy initiative. The nature of what we do means we always have excess cardboard and, while we do recycle at the hotel, we also welcome the opportunity to broaden this out into the wider local community.”
