Compost from the Old Course & Co.

Compost from the Old Course for your own garden? No problem for the residents of St. Andrews in Scotland. Tucked away at the end of the small road that leads along the dunes of West Sands, there is a big hole in a green wall with a sign in front of it: compost for free. The heavy, black soil, interspersed with small pieces of roots, comes from the golf courses that the Links Trust runs behind the dunes: Old Course, New Course, Jubilee, Eden, Strathyrum and Balgove Course.
They all have to be mowed, rough cut, and extensive areas cleared of invasive plants and shrubs. All the material is stored in large mounds hidden behind an earth bank next to the Jubilee course. “We have a 100 % recycling rate,” explains Ranald Strachan, who leads the West Sands Ranger team, which has been responsible for sustainability on the West Sands site since 2018. It takes a good 18 months for the cuttings to become compost. The different materials are mixed and turned over again and again.

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The compost is gladly accepted: “Especially in spring, when people are planting their gardens, many local residents come by,” says Strachan. This is a win-win situation, as the greenkeeping team would otherwise have to dispose of the cuttings, possibly transporting them away again, which costs time, personnel, and machinery and also generates CO2.
Their own compost, on the other hand, is stored on-site. “Fertilizers and pesticides are hardly ever used on our courses anyway, so the material is also of the best quality,” says Strachan, summing up the exemplary compost concept.

Burnham & Berrow: Life among the dunes

Compost from the Old Course & Co.

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