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Composting
Home composting is an inexpensive, natural process that transforms your kitchen and garden waste into valuable food for your garden soil. Finished compost is great for feeding your flower beds, vegetable plots, and for mixing into planters, and can make your garden bloom.
By composting at home, you can reduce the amount of rubbish you put out for collection in your black/brown bin, and you return important nutrients and minerals to your soil.
Composting is cheap, it’s easy to make, and it’s even easier to use.
Home composting units should always be placed directly on to your garden, do not place the composter on to slabs, polythene etc as this slows down the rotting process and stops worms and insects entering the bin and breaking down the material!
From an environmental point of view, home composting is the best option for dealing with waste that otherwise would end up in landfill or as a soil improver for someone else! It also reduces the amount of waste for collection, transportation and incineration.
More information on Home composting bins and other recycling tips can be found at www.recyclenow.co.uk (opens in a new window) or www.recycle-more.co.uk (opens in a new window).
What can I put in a compost bin?
- Fruit, salad and vegetable peelings
- Fallen leaves, grass cuttings and hedge trimmings
- Cardboard egg boxes and egg shells
- Plants that have died but were not diseased
- Teabags
Do not put the following items in your compost bin
- Raw or cooked meat and fish
- Dairy products
- Uneaten food from meal times
- Diseased plants or weeds
- Glossy magazines
- Animal waste
Information on other websites
If you have any concerns about the current outbreak of Mexican Swine Flu, please follow this link to the NHS Choices website, which holds the latest news and is regularly updated