Composters
Green Gardening
Every year gardeners spend around £30 million on pesticides. However it is possible to 'green' your garden using horticultural techniques that don’t rely on chemicals to get rid of weeds and pests. Gardening can be one of the most sustainable activities that we can do.
A healthy garden depends on healthy soil. Feeding your soil with garden compost and leaf mould, rather than artificial fertiliser, will help to promote stronger growing plants which have better resistance to pests, diseases and drought.
Why compost?
It is estimated that 20-25% of all household refuse is organic matter such as vegetable waste, tea leaves and soiled kitchen towels. If you have a garden, why not compost this refuse and use the results to improve the quality of your soil? Composting can reduce the amount of waste that you place in your refuse bin for collection. This waste will end up in landfill sites and by home composting you can reduce the amount of your waste that ends up in these sites.
What is a Composter?
Composters are plastic bins for the garden. Waste deposited in a composter prevents odour you would normally find in your dustbin. All composters have a lid and hatch.
How do I go about it?
The Council has recently teamed up with the Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP) to offer residents an improved service and increased support for home composters. The following deals are available, including free delivery to any address in East Renfrewshire and include a free kitchen caddy.
To take advantage of these offers, call 0845 077 0756
Website:Waste Aware
ecoMax 220 | ecoMax 330 | komp 250 | komp 800 |
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A Recipe for a Good Compost Heap
Organic Matter
Air
Water
Activator
Organic Matter
These items are suitable for composting: Vegetable peelings, fruit cores, tea leaves, crushed egg shells, soiled kitchen towels, some shredded newspaper (not coloured newsprint), grass cuttings, hedge clippings, straw, nettles, comfrey.
Air
Air is essential for quick composting. It can be built into the heap as it is made - by adding a layer of straw or scrunched up paper, for instance. Try to layer household and garden waste to provide a good mix of material. Encourage worms to enter the compost heap or composter (if it hasn't a base) by loosening the soil on which the heap stands. Worms will help aerate the material and speed up the composting process. Although it doesn't happen often some compost heaps, if not turned regularly, can generate a lot of heat and may catch fire - be aware of this when positioning the compost heap in your garden.
Water
Do not let the heap dry out. If necessary, water with a hosepipe or can. If your compost is too wet, add some shredded newspaper, which will absorb the excess water and help to dry the compost out.
Activator
An activator provides the initial energy to get the composting process going. Materials that have this effect are those that are high in nitrogen, which decompose quickly, such as manure, grass cuttings, comfrey and nettles. Alternatively, you can buy a ready-made compost accelerator. Leaves can take longer to decompose than other garden waste but they can be left to decompose in a corner of the garden in polythene bags with some holes punched in the side. In a year, the resulting leaf mould can be used in the garden or, if you want a finer product, leave it for another year.
Wood Ash is best put onto the garden direct.
What is not suitable for composting?
Meat scraps (these can encourage rats), woody cuttings and stalks that have not been chopped or crushed, diseased plant material, wood shavings and sawdust, cat and dog manure, perennial weeds such as ground elder, bindweed or buttercup, glass, plastic, cigarette stubs.
However, much of this food waste can be put green cone food digesters. However, much of this food waste can be put green cone food digesters. For more information on green cones visit the website below.
Website: Green Cone
How long does it take?
Good compost can take any length of time from several months to two years to make. If you turn the heap regularly, this can speed up the process.
Where is the best place to put a compost bin?
For the best results from your compost bin it should be positioned in a sunny spot on well-drained soil. The soil below the bin should be loosened to improve drainage and increase access for worms and bacteria. Place a few inches of kitchen waste on the soil at the bottom of the bin, this will attract worms and bacteria to the bin and increase the rate of compost formation. For the best results, organic waste should be put in the bin in layers of different material between 6 to 12 cm deep
For best results, ensure your compost bin contains some grass cuttings or vegetarian animal manure. They heat up and speed up the composting process. However they should be mixed with other organic waste to avoid slime formation.
It is essential that your compost bin is kept warm and moist. Placing the bin in the sun and out of the wind is therefore preferable. Ensure you always put the lid on your compost bin and do not let the compost dry out.
To ensure that air is getting to the centre of the bin, turn the material regularly. This will also speed up the decomposition process.
How do you know when the compost is ready?
Your compost is ready for use when the material does not resemble anything that you put in the bin. Collect the compost from the small hatch at the bottom of the bin. The compost can then be spread on the garden where it will act as a fertiliser.
Composting without gardens
It is possible to compost at home even without a garden to store your bin or heap in. Worms can be utilised to break down your organic food waste within a contained bin. These systems are available in various different scales, ranging from small dustbin-sized bins that can be kept under the kitchen sink up to coalbunker size. More information on this can be found on the website below.
Website: Wiggly Wigglers
Further information on the home composting can be found at www.compost.org.uk