Common sense hygiene means you can compost safely

 

Our partners at Garden Organic have issued reassuring advice urging gardeners not to panic in the wake of the Legionella longbeachae compost scare in Scotland.

National charity Garden Organic, which works with local authorities and a network of hundreds of volunteer 'Master Composters', warns that simple common sense measures should be enough to protect gardeners, adding that cases of contracting Legionella, particularly this strain, are extremely rare and unlikely.

Jane Griffiths, Head of Sustainable Waste at Garden Organic said, “Each year the UK uses many tens of thousands of bags of compost and thousands of tonnes of homemade compost. In the handful of cases of Legionella, very rarely has any link been found between the contracted illness and compost. The cases in Scotland are tragic, but we would urge gardeners to use common sense - good hygiene should be enough to remove any element of risk.”

For more information on composting visit www.homecomposting.org.uk