Composting

Composting is one of the simple things you can do at home to reduce the amount of waste you produce.

Traditional composting

Composting is a natural process in which micro-organisms decay organic material such as leaves, paper, napkins and food waste into a soil like material. These decomposer organisms live all around us and the most important ones are too small for us to see. Bacteria are the main decomposers in a compost heap and they arrive on every single piece of organic matter. Composting merely controls the conditions so that materials decompose faster.

Compost is quite different from the material that it was made from. It is free from unpleasant odours, is easy to handle and stores for long periods of time. It is a natural plant food, soil conditioner and mulch, adds organic matter to the soil and encourages soil life and earthworms. Compost is an excellent material to enrich the soil.

Reasons to compost
Composting makes good sense as it is a simple and natural way to recycle your kitchen and garden waste materials. It saves money on traditional waste disposal costs to the refuse station and reduces air pollution from burning garden waste. It’s an excellent fertiliser, adds nutrients to soil and improves soil structure which allows air to circulate to plant roots.

What I can compost?
Greens – kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps, vegetable peelings, tea leaves, coffee grounds, soft garden debris, lawn clippings.
Browns – paper, sawdust, straw, leaves, cereal boxes, cardboard, napkins, tree clippings, woody materials such as cabbage stalks.
Both kitchen and garden materials will compost much quicker when chipped, chopped or crushed into smaller pieces. Napkins, paper and cardboard are best ripped into small pieces and soaked in water prior to composting. Check out our Composting Guide.

What I should not compost?
Don't compost large quantities of materials that may cause unpleasant side effects such as attracting vermin or flies, or that may cause odour. These include meat, fish, fats or cooking/salad oils.

Other materials that may cause problems when the end-product compost is used are wood pieces, bones, inert materials (such as tins, glass or plastic), or diseased plant material. Also plant foliage with residue of chemical sprays, especially hormone type weed killers. Weeds such as Oxalis, live twitch, convolvulus, docks and dandelions will need to be disposed of as waste.

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Worm Composting

The main difference between traditional composting and a worm composting is traditional compost heaps can reach temperatures of 65oC, which is too hot for worms to survive. The high temperatures develop due to large quantities of particular types of materials, mainly grass. Therefore, keep grass to a maximum of 10% of total material composted, and make use of your kitchen and brown garden materials (see Traditional Composting).

Problem-free worm composting can be undertaken all year round, both inside and out. The great advantage of worm composting is that it provides people who have limited space with an effective means of recycling their kitchen wastes. It requires only minimal space, effort and a little knowledge.

Being a natural plant food and soil conditioner, worm compost provides you with an excellent high quality material particularly suitable for container growing, but equally as good for enriching the garden. Addition of compost to our gardens is probably the best way to enhance and maintain soil fertility.

Getting started
Anyone can start a worm bin (also known as a wormery). All you need is a suitable container, bedding material and, of course, worms, and remember the following:

• Buy, recycle or make a suitable container (wood, plastic or metal).
• Drill or punch a few holes in the bottom of the container for aeration and drainage.
• Place moist bedding (shredded newspaper or similar) in the worm bin, plus one or two handfuls of coarse sand or topsoil.
• Add tiger and/or red worms (1000 or so).
• Bury wet kitchen waste (vegetable and not too many fruit scraps) and leaves just below the surface of the bedding, preferably in a sequence around the bin.
• Cover with sacking or a loose fitting lid that will keep the material from drying out, reduce extreme temperature variations, and provide a dark environment for the worms.
• Additional fresh bedding should be added at least every two months. Harvest compost (worm castings) after 3 to 4 months and feed to your plants.
• Top up bin with fresh bedding to replace the compost removed.

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