Compost

Composting at home

Composting at home is a great way to transform your food and garden waste into useful plant food for your garden.

Benefits of composting

Research has shown that almost half of the food waste in the average bin could have been composted at home. There are many benefits to composting. It saves money, saves resources and can help improve the quality of the soil in your garden by improving its structure, maintaining moisture levels and keeping soil pH balanced.

It also helps reduce the impact on our environment. Did you know composting at home for just one year can save climate change gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annually, or your washing machine produces in three months?

How to compost at home

Here are our top tips on getting started on your composting journey:

  • Place your bin on bare soil and in a reasonably sunny spot in your garden. This will allow the contents to break down quicker.
  • Feed your compost a mixture of green materials (such as grass, carrot tops and apple cores) and brown (such as cardboard, autumn leaves, straw) - about half of each should do it!
  • Avoid materials such as meat, fish and dairy as they can attract unwanted pests. Also keep out any plastics even if they say they are compostable. This usually means they are compostable under industrial conditions only.
  • Wait 9-12 months for your compost to develop and keep adding materials to the pile in the meantime. Once it is ready, use it on your garden to enrich borders and vegetable patches, in plant pots and to feed the grass on your lawn. Do not worry if it looks a little lumpy with materials such as twigs and egg shells - this is perfectly normal!

Find out more about composting