"Taz" wrote ..
Lots of people keep talking about heavily discounted water butts from
the local authority - even GW are at it now. Yet I can't find any
evidence that our local authority does a scheme. Is there some kind of
national one available?


This doesn't help you with regard to water butts, but if you're looking for
a composter, type in your postcode at this website to find out if your local
authority have discounted composters:
http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/index.html