May 8, 2006. WRAP. This week, 7th 14th May, sees the launch of the sixth annual Compost Awareness Week - an initiative aimed at encouraging people to reduce the waste they send to landfill sites and start home composting instead. To celebrate, the Recycle Now Home Composting Campaign is offering all Richmond residents the chance to win £100 of garden centre vouchers simply by buying a compost bin.

Home composting is the latest recycling must-do with one in three people in the UK already turning their kitchen and garden waste into compost at home. Up to one third of household waste is able to be home composted and if the rest of the UK started home composting this week, a massive 10 million tonnes of waste could be diverted from landfill sites. That would mean waste equivalent to the weight of more than one million double-decker buses being recycled and put to good use in gardens across the nation.

All residents who buy a compost bin during Compost Awareness Week from London Borough of Richmond will be entered into the free prize draw. One lucky winner will be awarded with £100 of garden centre vouchers to spend on making their garden look great this summer. The prize will be delivered to the winner's door by a home composting expert, along with their brand new compost bin and a complete guide to getting started.

Furthermore, there is a composting display at the Civic Centre reception, Twickenham all week and experts will be on hand to answer composting and recycling questions on Monday 8th and Thursday 11th from 10am to 2pm. Residents can sign up to BinBlitz and receive a free compost bin. This is in return for completing 3 questionnaires as part of a waste reduction study. They will also be sent 3 booklets containing tips on how to reduce and re-use you household waste. To register with the scheme email your name and address to ecoaction@richmond.gov.uk or write to LBRuT, Bin Blitz, FREE POST SEA 4086, Twickenham, TW2 7SG. Offer ends 30th June 2006.

To buy your bin today and be in with a chance of winning, visit www.recyclenow.com/home_composting or call 0845 077 0760. WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is teaming up with the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to offer residents the 330 litre Compost Converter' bin for just £6 and the 250 litre KOMP bin for £10. A £5 model can also be bought directly from the Townmead Road, Re-use and Recycling Centre at Kew.