A husband-and-wife-style business partnership in Machynlleth, Powys, has built an award-winning community composting scheme that turns food waste and other organic scraps into locally used, peat-free compost. Steph Robinson and ffin Jordao, who met at the Centre for Alternative Technology, run Criw Compostio, collecting waste from paying cafes and businesses and returning the finished compost to local growers, keeping the entire resource loop within the community rather than selling it commercially.

Criw Compostio collects food waste, wood shavings and used rabbit and guinea pig bedding twice a week, processing it at a nearby site using specialised "hot, rat-proof hyper composters" that deter pests. The process takes about a year to produce compost, which recently won a quality award, and is offered on a "pay what you feel" basis to local growers who sell produce at Machynlleth markets and to nearby shops and restaurants. The venture grew from a 2022 Shared Prosperity Fund grant and now also runs a composting school to help other communities replicate the model, amid what the founders say is rising interest in home growing driven by the cost of living crisis.