As well as recycling waste, individuals can adopt more sustainable ways of disposing it. One way is to compost any organic waste such as food and garden waste. Organic waste breaks down over a few weeks into a mulch which can be used as a soil fertiliser. Individual households have practiced small-scale composting for many years, and the UK Government is now encouraging this on a wider scale. Large-scale composting schemes are also being developed, with the collection of organic waste from parks and civic amenity sites. Garden and food wastes are collected directly from households in separate kerbside collections. Large central facilities can then compost the collected organic waste. These schemes are to help the UK meet its target of recycling and composting 33% of household waste by 2015.