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Home composting

Composting at home is a great way to turn your food and garden waste into useful plant food for your garden. It saves money and resources, and can help to improve your soil. It can also reduce your impact on the environment.

You can buy a compost bin to get started at many garden centres and DIY stores.

What you can compost

There's lots of items you can add to your compost bin: green materials which are rich in nitrogen, and brown materials which are rich in carbon. The items you can add to the bin include:

  • fruit and vegetable peelings
  • leaves
  • grass cuttings
  • hedge clippings
  • teabags and coffee grounds
  • eggshells
  • toilet roll tubes
  • cereal boxes
  • hair and nail clippings
  • the contents of your vacuum cleaner

You should never compost cooked food, meat, fish, dairy products, cat litter or dog waste.

How to compost

You should place your compost bin on bare soil in a sunny spot in your garden. This will allow the contents to break down quicker.

To get the best compost you should add a 50/50 mix of green and brown materials. You can either mix these together or add them to the compost bin in thin alternating layers.

It should be around nine and 12 months before you can use your compost. You can keep adding material to the compost bin during this time to top it up. The compost will be ready to use when it's turned into a crumbly, dark material which looks like thick, moist soil. You can then use it on your borders, vegetable patches, plant pots, or to feed the lawn.

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