Home Recycling
by A short article on how to make up your compost and help the environment.
Making up your compost bin is easier to do than most people think. Having only a very small garden myself, my compost bin is placed on concrete. When setting up your compost bin (the round bins I find are better as they don’t tend to fall apart) just add a decent layer of soil, about a couple of inches in thickness once you have placed your bin. If your bin is placed on soil, you won’t need them to add the extra soil as worms will have access to the compost.
Keep your vegetable peelings, fruit cores, skins, seeds anything that is fresh and organic in a small tub in the kitchen (it saves visiting the garden everyday). I use a bucket with a lid as I find some of the kitchen composters are too small for the amount of vegetation we discard. Using biodegradable bin liners for the bucket means there is less cleaning to do and the whole lot can go into the compost bin. Ideally you want to layer your compost with soil, green waste and brown waste. Your compost will break down much quicker during the summer months when the worms and bacteria are active. During the winter months, the compost will still break down, but at a much slower rate so it may be worth investing in 2 bins if you have the space.
Image via Wikipedia
Green waste which rots quickly and provides nitrogen can be made up from; fruit scraps, vegetable peelings, tea bags, grass and plant cuttings (both indoor and outdoor plants), weeds (be sure to cut these up before adding to the compost bin) and flowers. Any large plant cuttings should be cut into small pieces so that it breaks down quicker.
Brown waste is slower to rot but provides carbon for the mixture and is made up from; cardboard toilet roll tubes, shredded documents (I don’t think anyone would try to extract your ID from the compost bin), torn newspaper, straw and hay, coffee grounds, woody shavings and clippings, pet hair, egg boxes and shells, tissues and paper napkins.
Image via Wikipedia
By layering green and brown waste with soil, your compost will break down quite quickly and provide valuable nutrition for your garden and potted plants.
Do not add cooked foods, bread, dairy products, glossy magazines or metals or glass.
During the summer, add water to the compost as rain won’t be able to get into the composting bin. And don’t forget your most important ingredient – plenty of worms!
After a few months, you should find that the bottom of your compost should have an earthy smell and be quite dark and crumbly, don’t worry if eggshells or teabags haven’t completely broken down as these can be mixed into your garden soil and the worms will complete the job.
Even during the winter months I have found my compost breaking down, slowly but surely, we are still adding green waste to the bin. Aerate your compost every now and again to allow air to circulate and you may find this moves your ingredients around for a quicker composting time.
Image via Wikipedia
It is amazing the amount of household waste that can be recycled in this way. You will save money on bin bags for your main bin and save tonnes of waste going into landfill. You will also save money on feeding your garden and buying peat compost – home-made is always best!
Liked it
