How Pro-Grow is Made: Nature's Recycling Process
From Garden Waste to Black Gold
Ever wondered what happens to your garden waste after collection day? At our Little Bushywarren composting facility in Hampshire, we transform it into Pro-Grow – our premium quality organic compost that's perfect for gardens, landscaping, and agriculture across the UK.
The journey from green waste to finished compost is a fascinating natural process that takes just 12 weeks.
Although Pro-Grow is manufactured at our Hampshire facility, we service the full UK with palletised bulk and small bags, ensuring gardeners, landscapers, and farmers nationwide can access premium organic compost.
What is Composting and How We Do It
Composting is nature's way of recycling. It's a completely natural process where organic waste – such as grass cuttings, leaves, plant trimmings and garden debris – biodegrades into a valuable, nutrient-rich soil conditioner compost.
More than just good for your garden, composting helps fulfil environmental targets by diverting organic waste from landfill and reducing the need for peat-based products. It's a win-win for gardeners and the planet. More and more Local Authorities are extending garden waste collection and composting schemes to help reduce and recycle more organic waste – and Pro-Grow is at the heart of this sustainable movement.
Open Windrow Composting: The Science Behind Pro-Grow
Pro-Grow is made using a completely natural process at our state-of-the-art composting facility, Little Bushywarren in Hampshire. Little Bushywarren is one of Veolia's five Open Windrow Composting sites across the UK, here we process over 400,000 tonnes of green and garden waste each year – transforming it into over 400,000 cubic metres of premium peat-free compost.
The green waste is processed over 12 weeks using a carefully controlled method. Incoming waste is checked for contamination, shredded, formed into windrows, and regularly turned to optimise the natural composting process. Finally, the product is screened to a range of grades for agricultural and domestic use.
All our composting facilities are PAS-100 and Quality Protocol certified and permitted to treat green and garden wastes, ensuring every batch meets the highest standards.
The Pro-Grow Production Process: Step by Step
1. Collection & Quality Control
Your garden waste is collected by our crews and delivered to Little Bushywarren, where we record its origin and immediately inspect it for contamination. Any visible contaminants – plastic, stones, and metals – are carefully removed to ensure the purity of our final product. We collect green waste from business operations, civic amenity sites, and through separate kerbside collections, ensuring minimal contamination of the waste material.
2. Blending & Preparation
The cleaned material is blended with other loads to guarantee consistency across every batch. It's then shredded to reduce larger pieces and ensure optimal mixing of green and woody materials.
3. Windrow Formation
The shredded material is formed into massive windrows. Windrows are long rows of composting material that are 100 metres long and up to 3.5 metres high. The physical structure is crucial; it creates the perfect conditions for the natural composting process to thrive.
4. The Heat Treatment
Here's where the magic happens. The internal temperature of each windrow rises to at least 70°C and is maintained for a minimum of 48 hours. This natural heat destroys any viable seeds or plant pathogens, ensuring a safe, clean product.
5. Regular Turning & Aeration
Over the next three-four months, our team turns and aerates the windrows every 10-14 days. We only add water and air – nothing else – to create the perfect conditions for naturally present micro-organisms to break down the organic matter and create high-quality compost.
6. Screening & Quality Assurance
Once fully composted, the material is screened to 10mm to create a free flowing soil conditioner compost. Every batch is continually controlled to ensure we deliver the best product to our customers. The soil conditioner is used as a soil improver, compost, or blended with other horticultural products to create the Pro-Grow range.
100% Peat Free: A Commitment to the Planet
We are proud to say that we have never used peat in our products, and never will. Peat is a non-renewable resource, just like oil and coal, and its removal from peat-bogs results in the release of greenhouse gases and destruction of an important habitat for rare wildlife.
Our customers use Pro-Grow in the knowledge that they are helping to fight climate change, protect biodiversity, combat depletion of natural resources, and support the circular economy!
Why Choose Pro-Grow?
? 100% Organic – Made from recycled garden waste with no artificial additives
? Peat-Free – An environmentally responsible alternative to peat-based products
? PAS-100 & Quality Protocol Certified – Meeting the highest industry standards
? Sustainably Produced – Diverting waste from landfill and reducing carbon emissions
? Proven Results – Over 400,000 cubic metres produced annually at Little Bushywarren
? UK-Wide Delivery or Local Collection – Available in palletised bulk and small bags nationwide, or collection from our Veolia Household Waste Recycling Centres. Loose loads are available to collect from Little Bushywarren.
? High in Natural Nutrients – Reduces the need for artificial fertilisers
? Rich in Organic Matter – Improves soil structure and water retention
Ready to Grow with Pro-Grow?
Whether you're a gardener, landscaper, or farmer, Pro-Grow peat-free organic compost is available across the UK. It's nature's way of recycling – and it's ready to transform your soil while protecting our planet and supporting the UK's net zero targets.
