Compost Awareness Week

The 3rd of May saw the start of compost awareness week in the UK. Each year in England some 11.4 million tonnes of kitchen waste such as vegetable peelings, tea bags and food scraps are sent to landfill. These organic materials within a landfill are the main source of methane (the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming and 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide). It is no wonder then that in 1998 , the Department of Environment and Labour in Nova Scotia banned compostable organic waste from landfills. A progressive step that placed Nova Scotia as a world leader in composting.

It's easy to start the process of making compost from items such as fruit and vegetable peelings and tea bags these can be put in a kitchen caddy.

If you use a ventilated caddy which helps to reduce odours, you will need to use a liner, look for liners that carry the seedling logo which means that your liner can also go on the compost heap and will break down naturally. These liners are accepted by councils as part of their food waste collections.

Once your caddy is full transfer the contents to the compost heap or container in the garden. In the garden you can add items such as grass clippings, leaves and scrunched up paper. All of this can significantly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. There is also the satisfaction of producing compost for your garden from your waste, allowing nature to take its course by returning any organic material to where it came from - the soil.
For excellent advice and information on how to build your compost in the garden visit home composting.