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Fairfields Materials Management, Manchester |
 It may not be obvious how composting improves a community. But any
patch of green space, whether large or small, needs to be fertilised.
Fairfield Materials Management (FMM) is Manchester’s first commercial compost producer. It takes waste deliveries, turns them into compost, and the compost is sent off to work its magic on nearby areas.
FMM researched, developed and installed the UK’s first in-situ composting system for a wholesale market. It now has six composting units and has diverted a total of 11,500 tonnes since it started.
But when the organisation was founded in 2003, it needed cash to get up and running.
‘We’d managed to secure some funding to start up but it wasn’t enough,’ says Emma Smith, project development manager at FMM. ‘So we applied to the ACF. They came to see us and liked the project. I gave a panel presentation and in May, a few months after our initial application, we heard we’d been successful.’
FMM received money from the ACF in three stages. First it was awarded a loan of £120,000 and a grant of £80,000. This meant FMM could launch in July 2003. The following year it received a further grant and loan of £50,000 each, and then a final loan of around £30,000.
‘The money was used for setting up and then funding more composting units,’ says Emma. ‘Later on, we expanded and needed some bail-out money to keep us going, and the ACF’s funding was a massive help, because the different stages of funding helped us start off, expand, and keep going when things got difficult.’
The effects of FMM’s work are easy to see. It has worked with the Forestry Commission on brownfield sites, bringing them back to life, and it has worked on parks in Manchester. One park had soil of such poor quality that it was almost grey, but after three years of compost from FMM, it has been transformed.
‘It’s great to see those results,’ says Emma. ‘If we hadn’t got that money, this wouldn’t be possible, and the waste would be going to landfill. Instead, we’re changing the landscape, and providing local employment and training as well.’
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