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EcoWaste Recycling Composting What is composting? Composting is something we can all do, and is basically collecting your kitchen scraps and leaving them to rot down to make fertile soil, which you can then use in your garden to help provide nutrients.  You can start a compost heap on any spare corner of your garden, or alternatively buy a large compost bin, which will help compost to break down quicker, hide the compost away and help prevent the smell of rotting fruit and vegetables.  Compost bins are normally available from your local council or can be bought from most diy stores or online, links at the bottom. What should be composted? Compost needs to be a good mix of green and brown items, green includes old fruit and vegetables, including peelings, teabags and garden waste such as weeds and lawnmower clippings; brown includes, eggghells and their boxes, teabags, and even scrunched up paper, I put my shredded documents in mine.  A balance of greens and browns is needed to make good composting, if too wet put in more browns, if too dry put in more greens. What shouldn't be composted? Don't put in cooked food or plate scrapings, particularly not meat products as these will attract rats and don't be tempted to put in animal poo.  Keep your compost heap vegetarian! How long does it take? It ususally takes six months to fill up a compost heap, depending on the size of your family, you should then leave it another six months or so to fully rot down. You can simply start another heap/bin while you are waiting.  Some bins have a door at the bottom which will let you dig out some of the compost that has already rotted from the bottom of the bin before the top part is ready.  Once it has rotten down, it will look pretty much like soil and can be dug into your flowerbeds or vegetable patch. What other options are there? Most councils now provide a brown bin for composting, however, this is not intended for fruit and vegetables, but just garden waste.  Use this service too as it will help slow down how quickly you fill the compost bin, unless of course you have plenty of garden space.  Contact your local council. Any tips? It is really useful to have a small compost bucket with a lid in the kitchen to collect scraps, which can be taken to the compost heap/bin when full.  One tip for this is to put an egg box in the bottom first, it will make it easier to empty the bucket as all the peelings won't stick to the bottom of the bucket. You can also get worms that will help break down the compost more quickly, but these are not needed unless you're in a hurry. Links? RecycleNow - http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting WormsDirect - http://www.wormsdirectuk.co.uk Local Councils - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htm