Welcome to Debdale Eco Centre

Who are we?

Based in Gorton, Debdale Eco Centre is a not-for-profit environmental organisation working across Greater Manchester to promote composting, organic growing and sustainable living.

We aim to:

Encourage residents of Greater Manchester to adopt sustainable lifestyles through the provision of training sessions on sustainable development in a carbon neutral building.
Provide the training and knowledge for individuals to grow some of their own food without the use of toxic chemicals.
Encourage healthy eating through the provision of cook and eat sessions in environmentally sensitive surroundings.
Encourage networking between groups across Greater Manchester in order to build strong working relationships and provide a means of exchanging information to enable them to make positive lifestyle decisions.

History

Debdale Eco Centre (DEC), formerly known as Fairfield Composting, was set up in 1996 by Val Rawlinson to promote home composting to local residents.

Using funding provided by the Beswick and Bradford local community fund the organization purchased and delivered over 2000 compost bins to residents in Greater Manchester, with Val working as a volunteer and using her tiny Fiat Uno (which could take six bins with the boot tied down with string).

Picture, above: DEC's cabin and cottage at Debdale Park.

Picture, top right: Inside the willow room, and a rainwater butt.

Timeline

1996:	Fairfield Composting, Manchester's first composting group, was established in response to a successful anti-incinerator campaign in Ardwick, East Manchester.
2003:	Fairfield Composting moved on to establish Manchester's first compost and organic growing training centre.
2003:	Fairfield Materials Management (FMM) was born from Fairfield Composting and started the UK's first large-scale market composting system on New Smithfield Market in June 2003. Click to visit the Fairfield Materials Management website.
2003:	SEED (Social, Economic and Environmental Development) Funding was secured for site development and enabled local schools to make regular visits to the site to learn about composting and growing. Click to read more on our Projects page.
2005:	Fairfield Composting secured CRED funding for the GLOSS (Gorton Leads On Sustainability Strategy) Project, to encourage home composting in Gorton. Click to read more on our Projects page.
2006:	In January 2007, Fairfield Composting became Debdale Eco Centre (DEC) to reflect the progression and evolution of the organisation over the last decade.
2007:	Early in 2007, DEC secured funding from WRAP to promote Manchester City Council's Kerbit recycling service in Gorton.

With thanks to: