Natural World Products supports green growth with 15,000 trees planted

Ireland’s leading organics recycling firm Natural World Products (NWP) has unveiled plans to plant 15,000 trees by 2025 at its headquarters in the BelfastHills, creating crucial newnativewoodlands that will cover an area roughly the size of 10 football pitches.

The three-year project, in collaboration with Belfast Hills Partnership,Lisburnand Castlereagh City Council and the Woodland Trust has already seen the first phase of planting native species saplings, germinated in NWP’s peat-free compost, getunder way at thecompany’s Glenside Roadlocation.

Colm Warren,Chief Executiveat NWP, said:

“As we continue toseek solutions to address issues associated withclimate change, we aredelightedto be launching this tree planting initiative.

“The trees themselves and the compostand soil conditioners usedplay an incredible role interms of carbon capture,helping toreturnorganic material to the soil andinenabling us to start restoring formerly neglectedlandstomorenatural states of biodiversity, and reduce erosion

“With a continuousprogrammeof plantingandother exciting collaborations happening in other council areaswehavean ambitious visionto do a lot more of this type of work in the Belfast Hills and beyond.

“Throughthis type ofeffectivecollaboration,we canseek toincreasetree coverage, buildsoil health, improvebiodiversity and protectcrucialhabitats in thehillssurrounding us–while providing critical and sustainable recycling solutions forhousehold-generated food and garden waste.

“It’s people using their brown bins and local recyclingcentreseffectively andproviding high quality clean organics for us to process thatactually enablesthis type of thing to happen. It is literally the circular economy on ourowndoorstep and a local solution tohelpaddress in our own small way some ofour most significant global challenges.”

NWPishighlighting how soil health can besignificantly enhancedthrough the use of organic peat-free soil conditioners and tailored growing mediathat,among other benefits,helpreturncrucialorganic matter to heavily farmed soils, lock up carbon andhelpimproveoverallsoil biology to enable productive and sustainable growing while reducing the need to addchemical and syntheticfertilisers.

Colmadded:

“The first planting of the trees here at Glenside really completesa very particular localcircle, having been germinated in compost produced using organicmaterialsreceivedfrom local authorities in the area,includingLisburnand Castlereagh City Council.”

The projectat Glenside forms part of a number oflivecollaborationsthatincludethe Forest Expansion Scheme, the Woodland Trust’s nationwide Woodland Creation,and Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council’s Big Tree Project.

Stephen Mackle, Interim Head of Parks and Amenities at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, added:

“With Northern Ireland having the lowest tree canopy cover in Europe and being significantly below the UK average, there has never been a better time to create an expansive woodland network across our region.

“The NWP vision to improve biodiversity and the natural world is a vision which we share and aligns with our own sustainability goals, we couldn’t be more excited to see the project come to fruition, bringing a new area of woodland for future generations to enjoy.”

Jim Bradley, Partnership Manager from The Belfast Hills Partnership commented:

“We are excited to be partnering with NWP on this project, working alongside its dedicated team andLisburnand Castlereagh City Council to ensure there is a positive impact on both the environment and the local community.

“The trees have been planted in an area that is in need of reforestation, which, in the near future, will see a host of environmental benefits, including improved air quality and the reduction of Northern Ireland’s carbon footprint.”