Home Composting

Why Compost?

Up to 40% of household waste is made up of kitchen and garden waste ideal for composting. 

There are several reasons why we should be composting:

• It reduces the rubbish in your bin
• It It saves you money, as there is no need to buy soil improvers or mulches
• Household compost increases the water retention of your soil, so less watering is needed in the summer

How to Start

Get yourself a bin or space for a heap - you can make a compost heap out of old bricks, wood or anything that comes to hand. You could however, get yourself a compost bin, Leicestershire residents can recieve special offers on compost bins and composting accessories, so they are really cheap and great for first time composters.

Find a suitable spot in your garden - the bin/heap needs to be placed on bare ground to enable worms to get in and to let moisture drain away, also make sure it is in an easily accessable point! You want to be able to get to it easily so you use it more often.

Start filling it up - you can put all sorts of organic material in your compost bin, see below for a list of acceptable items. Everyone who gets a compost bin/heap notices just how much waste is composted compared with going in the refuse bin.

North West Leicestershire District Council has teamed up with Evengreener.com to offer our residents a fantastic range of low cost compost bins and other accessories.

Please visit www.getcomposting.com or call Evengreener on 0844 571 4444 for more details.

Compost Bin or Compost Heap?

Compost Heap - Piling organic material on the ground makes a compost heap! To maintain heat the heap should be at least 3" wide. If you want to make the area neater you can build an enclosure. This can be made out of pallets or chicken wire. If you want to produce compost quickly, it is best to turn the heap as this introduces oxygen which speeds the process up.

Compost Bin - These tend to be better if you have a small garden or a small amount of material. It is best to add large amounts of material at a time, so why not have a seperate bin in your kitchen to collect the materials in before taking them to the bin (this also saves trips to the compost bin!).

What Can Be Composted ?

If you mainly compost kitchen waste, it is good to mix in some paper or cardboard (about one part of paper or card to every five parts of kitchen waste). This mix will maintain the correct balance of materials needed to make good compost.

New Food Waste Digesters

If you have a small garden or a lot of food waste, you might find a food waste digester better suits your needs. Food waste digesters 'digest' rather than compost your leftovers to leave a liquid residue that feeds your soil and very little solid waste. This means you can put all your left over food - including cooked food, meat, fish and dairy in a food waste digester - that you cannot put in a conventional composter. Some food waste digesters also accept garden waste, so it is worth looking at what is available.

For more information on food waste digsters including the latest discout offers, see Leicestershire Council Council Food Waste pages