Why Compost?
Home composting benefits your garden and your environment, and it's easy and fun!
Composting is nature’s way of recycling. Composted kitchen and garden waste is a great alternative to expensive artificial fertilisers and peat.
Home-made compost saves you money, improves your garden’s soil and saves water by helping the soil hold moisture.
Garden bonfires pollute and create a nuisance - composting stops the need for burning.
Composting is the easiest way to recycle your waste. You can do it at home and involve all the family!
How does it work?
- Collect all your suitable kitchen and garden waste regularly (aim for half ‘green’ and half ‘brown’)
- Chop materials to less than 15cm (6 inches)
- Put it in your compost bin on bare soil
- Put an old piece of carpet on the top to keep the warmth in
- Turn over the composter contents regularly
- Wait for the mini beasts (from tiny organisms to worms) to break down the waste and make your free supply of compost!
What goes in the compost bin?
Green (fresh)
- Vegetable peelings
- Fruit skins and cores
- Tea bags and coffee grounds
- Crushed egg shells
- Animal waste from herbivores (such as rabbits, hamsters or horses)
- Grass cuttings
- Weeds
- Clippings
- Natural fabrics such as wool and hair
- Vacuum dust
Brown (dry and old)
- Kitchen roll and shredded paper
- Straw, hay and sawdust
- Egg boxes and toilet roll tubes
- Prunings and twigs
- Leaves
What shouldn’t go in the compost bin?
- Used paper tissues
- Meat, fish or dairy
- Animal waste from carnivores (such as dogs or cats)
- Left-over cooked food
- Glossy magazines
- Diseased plants
- Roots of perennial weeds (such as dandelions)
- Disposable nappies