Home Composting

HOW to…. a step by step guide to composting your green waste

Simply put your compost bin somewhere convenient so you can access it easily. Placing it on soil will enable beneficial insects to get in easily, but it will work on concrete, providing there is some drainage.

What should I put in my bin, in what proportions?

Examples from the Garden include chopped woody stems, twigs, grass and hedge cuttings, hay, Autumn leaves, flowers and herbivore (e.g. hamster, rabbit) droppings and bedding.

Your biodegradable materials can loosely be grouped into ‘fast rotters’ and ‘slow rotters’… Add these in together – there’s no need to sort!  You have the best chance of achieving the right balance (about 50% each) of things that rot quickly (these are soft and wet) and things that rot slowly (these are hard and dry). 

Top Tips:

• Every now and then introduce air into your bin - by using a garden fork to lift/mix the material and/or adding more scrunched up paper and card.
• Each time you visit the bin check that it’s not to wet or to dry. If it’s dry add wetter materials or sprinkle with water. If it’s wet add dry materials.
• Let nature take its time and you’ll have compost in within a year or less (six to eight weeks with effort).
• Chop chunky and large items into small pieces to help speed up the process.
• Your Compost is ready to use when it resembles dark soil and has a sweet, earthy smell.

What should I avoid putting in?

• Meat, fish, dairy*
• Cooked or processed food (e.g. vegetables, bread)*
• Whole root veg / fruit*
• Fat/oil (mix this with seeds for birds instead)
• Diseased plants
• Roots of perennial weeds (dandelions, ground elder, bindweed, Japanese knotweed, docks)
• Plants with seed heads
• Large branches/logs
• Animal faeces from carnivores (e.g. cats, dogs)
• Coal ash
• Materials that never lived
• Vacuum cleaner contents

* These can be placed in a food waste caddy for doorstep collection.

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