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Home composting

WHY compost at home?

Nature can recycle around a third of your waste for you! About a third of the waste in your bin is biodegradable - veg peelings, prunings, paper and a range of other things from your kitchen and garden will decompose easily, and naturally, in a humble compost bin! Beneficial insects and micro-organisms will break it down into COMPOST!

However, if you mix your biodegradable waste in with other materials and leave this mix out to be collected as rubbish, most will end up in a landfill site. Materials are squashed under more and more waste where there’s no access to AIR…

Take a deep breath and we’ll tell you more…

When you compost at home just put a range of materials in and your bin will be able to retain the air it needs. For instance, loosely scrunch bits of paper and tear egg boxes roughly before adding those in, and add garden waste such as prunings and twigs too! No sorting is required – a benefit to you … and the environment because the air pockets will help the materials in your bin to decompose ‘aerobically’ (in the presence of air).

Why avoid sending my materials to landfill?

When you mix your biodegradable waste in with other materials this:

• Deprives your garden / community of the peat-free compost you could have made with it
• Contaminates other recyclable materials such as cans and bottles and could prevent them from being recycled to their full potential
• Requires energy and therefore natural resources to be used in collection and handling
• Usually results in recycling and composting being limited and the waste needing to be transported to a landfill sites.