Home composting
Special Offer for composters
Scottish Borders Council has provided Compostabins (home composters) to households in rural areas to allow you to compost at home.
It is important to site your Compostabin where it is easy to get to all year round. This will make it convenient to add new materials and make full use of it. Your Compostabin should be placed over bare soil to allow the creatures that break down your garden and kitchen waste to enter your bin easily. Compost will be produced faster if your bin is sited in a sunny spot because the process works faster in the warmth.
It is a good idea to place a 7-8cm (3in) layer of "brown" materials (see below) at the bottom of your Compostabin. Air will circulate through the spaces between the materials, speeding up the composting process. Giving your compost enough air at each stage is also important because as the good bacteria work they use up air.
To produce good compost, it is important that only the correct materials go into your Compostabin. You should put at least as much "brown" material in your Compostabin as you do "green" material and you should to mix the ingredients as you put them in.
Brown materials
Brown materials have lots of carbon and are generally tougher for creatures (e.g. friendly bacteria and worms) to break down. Brown materials provide compost with important air pockets because they do not squash together as easily as green materials.
- Cardboard (crumpled/torn up)
- Hedge trimmings
- Leaves
- Small amounts of newspaper (crumpled/torn up)
- Egg shells
- Bedding from vegetarian pet cages
Green materials
Green materials have lots of nitrogen and are broken down quickly.
- Cut flowers
- Fruit & vegetable waste
- Garden & house plants
- Grass cuttings
- Tea bags & coffee grounds
Making your compost
You can introduce good bacteria by adding a few handfuls of soil or finished home compost, to give the process a kick start.
The materials in your Compostabin should be moist to touch. Gently squeeze a handful of compost: if it feels dry and dusty you should add some water; if it feels slimy and soggy you should mix in some brown materials to soak up some of the excess moisture.
When your compost is ready, it will be crumbly and brown. It should look like soil and you should not be able to make out the original shape of any of the materials that were put in your compost bin. With a Compostabin, compost at the bottom is ready first.
Using your compost
You can use your home compost in different ways:
- Mulch: a layer of compost can be applied to the surface of the soil. This will add nutrients, helping to encourage plant growth.
- Soil conditioner: you can mix compost into the soil to improve its structure and add extra nutrients.
- Lawn conditioner: mix an equal amount of sand and fine compost to spread over your lawn. This will encourage healthy lawn growth.
- Seed and potting mix: home compost can be a beneficial part of a seed and potting mix.
The benefits
Composting your waste:
- Conserves the Earth’s natural resources.
- Saves energy and reduces the risk of climate change.
- Reduces the need for landfill
Please continue to use your grey-lidded general waste bin and recycling services for all other waste.
You can download a leaflet about home composting with your Compostabin.
If you have any questions or you would like more information about composting or your new Compostabin, Scottish Borders Council’s composting partner, ASK Organic, has a website dedicated to home composting. ASK can also be reached on 01450 860778 or by email: da@askorganic.co.uk. Find out more about composting at the demonstration area at the Woodside Walled Garden by Ancrum, Jedburgh. There is also information on the Waste Aware Scotland website.
Need another composter?
You can now order from a selection of composters from SBC’s partner, WRAP, via the Waste Aware Scotland website
Can you help spread the word?
If you have somewhere you can display a poster, why not download and print one of our posters to help make people aware of the benefits of composting, or give them information on how to get advice?
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