Home Composting

Home Composting

Much of the food and garden waste we produce can be transformed into compost. This can be used all over the garden and helps your plants grow as well as helping the planet.

Benefits of composting

Compost is great for our soil as it improves the structure and drainage, and provides nutrients.

Composting at home can save you money by not having to buy compost from the store.

Did you know that by composting for just one year, you could save enough carbon dioxide (one of the main greenhouse gases causing climate change) equivalent to using a kettle for a year or a washing machine for three months?

Setting up a compost bin

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 and brown materials - 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, keep adding materials to the pile.

Using your compost

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