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Composting isn't just for keen gardeners!

by Paul Bourgeois

For decades householders have been happily putting banana peel, egg shells, uneaten dinners and grass cuttings in their wheelie bins without a care in the world. Over the last couple of years your local council has probably been clamping down on green waste in your rubbish bin. This is for two reasons; it weighs a lot and can be recycled, for want of a better word. Not my favourite word I have to admit has it conjures up for me an excuse for making waste because it can be recycled. In this instance recycling is a good description. Allowing green or organic waste to compose will provide a very useful source of nutrients for your house plants, food crops or garden flowers. Obviously large quantities of grass, leaves and pruning’s are more difficult to deal with but more on that later.

It is estimated that one third of the domestic waste stream is organic, compostable waste, e.g. fruit and vegetables, peelings, garden cuttings, uneaten food, etc. In the late 1800’s this figure was less than 10%. Most people merrily throw these valuable materials straight in the bin. You might say well if they go to landfill then they will rot down and that’s fine. We’ll if only it where that simple. Landfill sites suffer with methane gas build up and leachate problems. When organic matter decomposes it releases methane gas which can build up if left unmanaged and cause explosions. Historically rubbish dumps have been the centre of explosions which have caused damage to buildings and taken human and animal life. Landfill sites are heavily regulated and now have to have the methane gas piped away and burnt off to prevent explosions. Liquid pollutants, also know as leachate, also needs to be piped away to prevent it from percolating through rock strata and underneath buildings which can lead to subsidence and ground water contamination.

Methane gas and leachate derived from green waste going to landfill is one reason why local council’s have been forced by central government to try and divert green waste from the domestic rubbish they collect. Some council’s offer green waste collections, yet another wheelie bin to put you garden waste in to be taken away for large scale composting. This I suppose is better than letting it go to landfill but it does mean more large waste collection lorries on the road and more diesel and oil being used to power them. Not exactly the best option environmentally but not a bad last resort.

Large quantities of collected green waste usually goes to large scale composting sites where the green waste is regularly turned and composted in windrows. Whether large scale or small scale composting outside material needs to be introduced into the centre where it is warmer and conditions promote decomposition.

The most obvious and simple way is the tried and tested method, home composting. For centuries householders have been saving their food scraps and garden cuttings and composting them in their gardens and back yards. Granted not everyone can compost at home and not everyone has the need for compost but everyone does produce organic waste and some would argue have a responsibility to do something about it.

Anyway home composting is relatively easy and provides a free source of plant food and/or soil improver. Years ago composters were made out of scraps of wood or just left as piles of organic material that would be turned periodically until it’s decomposed sufficiently to allow use back on the land. Nowadays councils offer low cost home composting units to help to get composting your food and garden waste. The only down side to this is the vast quantities of plastic used to make these type of composters. They come in all shapes and sizes. Here some examples of the different types…

• Simple bin or cone types which have a lid and you basically put all your green waste and kitchen scraps though the hole in the top. Once the composter is full you need to remove the contents mixed them up and then put them back in. That way you get a much better mix which composts much quicker. Some composters will have the added benefit of a door at the bottom which means you can access the compost as and when you need it. In my experience you need a couple of these so that you can use one then leave it to work whilst continuing to use the other.
• Digester composter units generally have a portion below ground which has holes. As you fill the unit with waste the liquid naturally filters into the ground and solid matter is broken down by worms and bugs. Unless you have large quantities to compost the bin will always have some capacity and never need emptying. These are ideal if you don’t want the compost to use on your garden or don’t want the hassle associated with turning compost heaps. Digesters can also take cooked food scraps as they are sealed and rodent proof.
• Wormeries are sealed units which can be kept indoors. Most people don’t but they are completely sealed and have carbon filters to prevent any smells escaping. The principle of them is a platform with holes where an initial mixture of ripped up newspaper, soil and tiger worms is placed. After an initial settling in period kitchen scraps can be added and the worms aid the decomposition process and produce concentrated liquid compost. This can be removed through a tap at the bottom of the wormery and can be used on house plants, your lawn, plants and vegetable gardens. A small amount in a watering can has a dramatic effect. A word of warning though the liquid is very smelly; the wormery itself however is not. You can put all food scraps, cooked and uncooked in this type of unit.
• Victorian style bay composters if you have the space are good for dealing with large quantities of green waste. Usually wooden, shuttered areas house green waste and a number of these next to each other allow large quantities to be composted and left while other bays are used. Equally different green waste mixes can be composted in different bays.
• Recycled pallet composters require a little DIY but pallets are generally available free of charge. All you need is five, four for the sides and one for the base to allow a good circulation of air under the compost heap. Turn regularly and hey presto, compost at no cost.

It’s probably worth mentioning at this point that lots of the same green waste will take longer to compost than a good mix of different materials. This is primarily to do with the nitrogen, carbon mix. Grass cuttings have a lot of nitrogen and more woody material or shredded paper has a high carbon content. Get the mix right and the compost heap with develop a lot quicker. If you have a paper shredder at home then the small pieces of paper mixed with grass cuttings help it to stop getting very wet. Ripped up newspaper or straw also help to stop the compost getting too wet.

So you can spend as little or as much money and time as you like to compost but it can be rewarding and stops your wheelie bin smelling in the summer.

For more information speak to your council’s recycling officer who can tell you what offers there are on compost units or green waste collections.