CANNABIS plants seized by cops from illegal farms are being turned into garden compost.
A groundbreaking trial has been a success, police say — and rolling the scheme out nationwide could save millions a year for the public purse.
Usually, forces bring hauls from raids to secure locations, where they are incinerated at the cost of tens of thousands of pounds — and heavy carbon emissions.
But a study has shown the move to mulch is “a viable, cost-effective and sustainable alternative”.
West Yorkshire Police and Leeds University were backed in the trial by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Home Office and Border Force.
The findings will be presented to the College of Policing, with the aim being to roll out across all 43 forces in England and Wales.
West Yorkshire Police said: “These plants are generally destroyed by incineration which is costly and produces significant amounts of CO2.
“We developed a methodology for preparing cannabis plants for composting, how to best compost the plants and how we would test the viability of the compost for its potential usefulness post project.
“We have now established that cannabis plants do compost effectively.
“This could prove an attractive alternative for forces to dispose of cannabis plants more sustainability at low to nil cost.”
Some 52million cannabis plants were seized by cops in 2023 alone.
The Class B drug market is worth £2.6billion-a-year.
GettyCannabis plants seized by cops from illegal farms are being turned into garden compost[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
