Herefordshire Council's Master Composter Scheme, run in conjunction with Worcestershire County Council, has earned national praise and will be used as an example for others to follow.

The Master Composters scheme involves residents that have been composting for a while passing on their hints and tips to newcomers. It involves ordinary members of the public across both Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Garden Organic - Europe's largest organic membership organisation dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food - has selected the scheme as an exemplary model. And it has joined forces with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to stage the UK Master Composter Scheme Seminar in Worcestershire.

Councils from all over the country will descend on Bishops Wood Environment Centre, Stourport, on Tuesday, October 16. The aim of the seminar is to provide local authority personnel considering setting up a scheme with a realistic picture of the enthusiasm of Master Composters and how much they contribute to the campaign to encourage people to compost at home.

Worcestershire County Council's staff will be speaking and running workshops at the event to highlight the successes of the scheme and to help other authorities set up their own schemes.

Two Master Composters from the local scheme will also be running a workshop at the event entitled 'The view from the Master Composters' where they will

explain why they volunteer, talk about the positive things about the scheme, things they would like to be done differently, the kind of support they need and then hold a questions and discussion session with the group.

Viktoria Salisbury, Worcestershire County Council's project development officer for composting, said: "The Master Composters scheme has been a massive success and it is great that volunteers have given so much of their time to helping residents to compost. Master Composters are incredibly enthusiastic and they all believe strongly in the cause.

"The best thing about having the volunteers is that it enables us to spread the composting message to a much larger number of residents than I could do alone."

Since the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Master Composter scheme began in April 2006, volunteers have collectively contributed over 1,250 hours to promoting composting across the two counties.

The programme involves volunteers throughout Herefordshire and Worcestershire giving up their time to promote home composting and sharing their knowledge with residents.

The Master Composters have been spreading the word about composting through a variety of activities, including visiting schools, attending local events, carrying out compost bin inspections for friends and neighbours, giving talks to local groups and holding composting roadshows.

Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council have sold more than 71,000 compost bins in the last three years, with the volunteers playing a part in this achievement.