About Composting

Composting is easy to do,  and is not just for expert gardeners.  Both kitchen and garden waste are great ingredients for the compost heap.  Even cardboard and paper can be composted too!

Home Composting is Great for the Environment

As kitchen and garden waste rots in landfill sites, it gives off methane gas.  Methane is a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming.  Composting the same materials in a compost heap at home does not produce methane.  Home composting ensures that green waste is turned into something useful.

Getting Started 

It is really easy to start home composting.  First you need a compost heap. You can buy a variety of different types of compost bin,  but the cheapest and most effective way is to build a traditional heap.

Find out more about upcoming one day sales of reduced price home compost bins.

The next stage is putting the right things in the bin - all organic kitchen waste and green garden waste can be composted.  To make good compost you will need to get the right mix of ingredients for your bin,  You will need roughly equal quantities of low fibre, medium fibre, high fibre and very high fibre materials.  Below are examples of each.

Low Fibre, this includes grass cuttings, young weeds, fruit and vegetable scraps that have a high water content such as lettuce and cucumber.

Medium Fibre, this includes old flowers, teabags, coffee grounds, soft prunings and bedding plants.

High Fibre, used envelopes, cardboard, paper towels and vegetation pet bedding.

Very High Fibre, autumn leaves, eggshells, woody prunings and woody shavings.

To make good compost you need to have an equal balance of these ingredients.

Position and Care of your bin 

You should try and locate your compost bin in a sunny position and on soil to allow creatures and worms to come into your bin.  However if this is not possible do not worry, it will just take a little longer to make compost.

Your compost bin will need some care, you need to make sure that you put in a good mix of materials as detailed above, and keep adding to the bin. The level of waste in the bin will decrease as the composting process takes place.

The contents of your compost bin should be moist but not wet.  If the contents of your compost bin are too dry it will appear as if nothing is happening, just add a little water to solve this problem, or add more dry (high fibre) materials such as cardboard and paper if the contents are too wet and appears sludgy.

It takes between 6-18 months to get your finished compost, the speed of the composting process depends on the material you have put into the bin and the location of the bin.  The finished compost will be at the bottom of the bin and should be a nice rich dark colour.

It is possible that you will find some twigs and eggshells still in the finished compost as they take a long time to rot down, just take these out of the finished compost and put them back into your compost bin.

Composting in Yards

If you do not have a garden you can still home compost.  It is possible to get smaller compost bins that will fit into a small space, the process is then the same as above, but it may take a little longer to get your finished compost.

It is also possible to get specialised home composting systems, such as wormeries and bokashi bins.  If you would like more information on these please contact York Rotters.

Making a compost bin

Although you can buy a compost bin, it is also possible to make your own compost bin, here are two possible methods of making your own compost bin:- 

Wooden Bin

A bin can be easily made from scrap timber or an old wooden box.  Cover the bin with black polythene or a lid to keep the heat inside in the compost bin.  If you have room two bins can be placed side by side so that one can be left to compost while the other is being filled.

Converting a dustbin

A dustbin can be used to make a compost bin, by making holes in the bottom of the bin and standing it on bricks to provide ventilation.

For more information on making your own compost bin contact York Rotters.

Safe composting of food waste

Cooked food like pasts, meat and dairy products cannot be composted in the same way as raw kitchen waste like vegetable peelings, frui peelings etc.  This type of food needs to be composted within an enclosed composting or fermenting system.  Here are some examples of ways to compost cooked food waste:

• Wormery - you can put cooked food waste such as pasta and vegetables into a wormery.
• Bokashi - this is a two step system, firstly fermentation followed by standard composting.  Using this system you can transform all your food waste (including bread, meat, fish and cheese) into nutrient rich compost, without attracting smells, flies or vermin.  The system uses two airtight containers and a bran based material (Bokashi) made with a culture of friendly micro organisms.  Simply place all kitchen waste into the container and sprinkle with a handful of bran.  Units come in packs of 2 so that you can leave one to ferment whilst you fill the other.
• Green Cone - this food digester does not produce compost but  instead it fertilises the surrounding soil.  You can use it to dispose of meat, fish, dairy, bread, pasta etc. as well as vegetable and fruit peelings.
• Green Johanna - this is a simple, easy to use compost bin which can be used to compost all cooked food.

For information and advice about the above methods of composting food waste, or to buy any of the above composting systems , contact York Rotters on (01904) 412861 www.stnicksfields.org.uk

Free compost giveaway dates in 2012

What better way to say thank you for composting your garden waste than to give it back to you free!

Here are the dates for this year's free compost give aways, in partnership with Yorwaste Ltd. Compost will be available on:

• Sunday 4 March
• Sunday 1 April
• Sunday 6 May
• Sunday 3 June
• Sunday 8 July
• Sunday 5 August
• Sunday 2 September
• Sunday 7 October

Time:

9.30am until 2.30pm on these dates only

Location:

Harewood Whin (Yorwaste's Waste Management Site), Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road, Rufforth, YO23 3RR.

There will be a limited quantity of compost available, so residents are advised to go earlier rather than later as it will go on a first come, first saved basis.

Important information

- The compost is not bagged. You need to take a suitable bag or container to put the compost in. And a shovel!

Last year, in partnership with Yorwaste Ltd, we gave back around 2,320 of compost to York residents that had been made using the garden waste that we collect from your green wheelie bins and Household Waste Recycling Centres.