Compost bins

If your household bin is overflowing each week then a home composter could be just the thing you need, as it can cut your household’s waste by 1/3! The less you can put in your main bin the less goes on landfill.
Compost can save you money as it can provide a soil conditioner and this aids the soil's fertility in your garden and helps it retain water too. Compost is good for the soil and helps plants grow.
Recycling plant nutrients back into the soil in your garden is better than being dumped with other rubbish in a landfill.

What can you recycle in a compost bin?

uncooked vegetable & fruit matter
eggshells - crush
garden waste (including non-regenerative weeds, leaves, prunings and grass cuttings)
tea bags
coffee grounds
paper - shredded well
cardboard - tear up
herbivore (plant-eating) animal manure

Green waste compost bins - generally the bigger the better *BUT* a pile has to heat up for it to compost so you need to get a lot of stuff together at once which for smaller gardens can be tricky. However it'll turn to compost eventually however much you have so just keep piling it on. If you like the exercise you can turn a pile every so often to give it a chance to heat up and work quicker, but you don't need to.

Mix and match your compost. Just grass cuttings will go slimey - my dad's original compost heap when I was a child was full of worms eating away at the grass cuttings but it wa s abit slimey if you started messing with the pile (Just leave alone in a shady corner of the garden)

If you can mix stuff together like grass cuttings with shredded paper or weeds then that helps bulk it up a bit. Kitchen waste can attract lots of fruit flies so place the bin somewhere you don't have to walk by all the time.

Composting is easy and you'll eventually get some great quality soil conditioner which will help the soil in your garden grow more plants.

Dealing with cooked food and pet waste - don't put meat or pet stuff on a normal compost bin. It won't get hot enough to destroy bacteria.

Cone food waste bin

• Capacity 155 litres capacity
• Diameter 60.96cm x Height 99.06cm
(of which 40.64cm is underground)
• Processes all kitchen waste including cooked food and meats
• Suitable for pets’ waste
• Only takes soft garden waste
• Kitchen bin supplied
• Full instructions supplied
• Fertilises soil directly
• If your subsoil is clay, you will need to provide an area of better-drained soil around the “basket”

The cone has a removable top section for easy access. The digestion chamber enables aerobic conditions to be created reducing methane production.

Water evaporates from the food waste. How does the cone bin work? The sunlight provides energy for the cone, acceleration powder speeds the process up and the double waled solar cone creates a heat trap of circulating air to encourage bacteria and insulated the waste allowing the heat to help the process.

What can go in the green cone?

Fish
Red Meat & Poultry
All Bones
Bread
Fruit including peelings
Vegetables including peelings
Dairy produce
Cooked food scraps
Crushed egg shells
Tea bags
Animal excrement

Must be in a sunny spot in the garden on a well draining bit of soil and not waterlogged.

Wormery

Worm Bin - converting ordinary kitchen food waste into high quality liquid feed and compost for your garden and plants.
• Processes food waste and some soft garden waste
• Will process the typical kitchen food waste of a family of 4.
• Can be kept in a cupboard, shed or garage (in winter)
• Kitchen bin and worms supplied
• Produces finished compost and liquid plant food

Free or cheap compost bins

Check with your local authority to see whether they offer the green bin scheme or cut price compost bins.

Some authorities have given compost bins away so it can be well worth ringing them to find out.

Compost it - org - UK free compost bins
They have great info on composting:-
Stop the slime
The 4 essential requirements of a healthy heap
Leaf mould
Composting on concrete
Making use of your compost
Green waste collection and home composting
To shred or not to shred
Get off the bog!
Mini Beasts

http://www.communitycompost.org - has news and info on composting
What is Community Composting?
The community composting sector is very diverse; projects range in scale from individuals or small groups working on allotment sites or promoting home composting, to social enterprises with Local Authority contracts providing kerbside collection services.

Compost Works - Surrey KT22 9EN, Tel: 01372 376 642 - they have open days so you can find out more about composting.

For food waste

Green Cone - as described above.

Recycle Works Supplier of a wide range of domestic compost bins in various styles (many made from FSC timber), wormeries and shredders. Unit 1, Bee Mill, Ribchester, Nr Longridge PR3 3XJ Tel: 01254 820088 Website: http://www.recycleworks.co.uk

The recycle works has a giveaways section - freebies!

Wiggly Wigglers Suppliers of can 'o worms wormery

See also - other handy sites

Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood Street, London N1 7NJ
info@foe.co.uk
http://www.foe.co.uk
Send SAE for pubs list, including Gardening Without Peat, a booklet on home composting.

HDRA
Ryton Organic Gardens
Coventry
Warwickshire
United Kingdom
CV8 3LG
t 024 7630 3517 f 024 7663 9229
enquiry@hdra.org.uk
Advice and information on organic gardening

Organic Resource Agency
Organic Resource Agency Ltd. Malvern Hills Science Park, Geraldine Road, Malvern, WR14 3SZ
t 01684 585423 f 01684 585422
http://www.o-r-a.co.uk

Soil Association - The
Bristol House, 40-56 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6BY
t 0117 929 0661 f 0117 925 2504
http://www.soilassociation.org.uk
Sets standards for organic products, including composts.

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk

http://www.wastewatch.org.uk

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