On average... ‘more than half of what goes into people’s bins can be composted’

There are some simple principles in composting: ADAM

A: for aliveness – anything that was once alive can be composted.

D: for diversity – the more diverse the materials the more balanced the mix.

A: for air – you need to ensure the process is aerobic (air can get into the pile)

M: for moisture – your compost needs to be as moist as a wrung out sponge.

Did you know that composting food and garden waste really helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

When any food scraps or garden waste (collectively called organic waste) goes to landfill (the tip) it is compressed, compacted and buried along with other waste. In these conditions the organic matter doesn’t compost, it breaks down and it does so an-aerobically (without oxygen).

This creates major problems and produces two things:

Methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide, is given off into the atmosphere.
Leachates, a toxic liquid chemical that percolates through the landfill site and can get into ground water or streams if it cannot be readily captured and processed.

The best practice is to compost at home and make good compost.

Successful/ Good composting: smells rich and earthy
* adequate air and good layering of wet and dry materials (Carbon:Nitrogen ratio good - eg. 20:1)
Unsuccessful/ Bad composting: sludgy and very smelly
* inadequate air in pile, inadequate diversity of materials and not enough dry material. (Carbon: Nitrogen ratio bad - eg. 2:50)

Steps for making "good" compost

Start your pile with a big 20-30 cm layer of coarse material (prunings etc. to allow air into the pile).
Then put your kitchen scraps/ garden waste on top of the coarse prunings layer – let’s call this kitchen scrap layer your fresh or wetter layer.
Next put a layer of dead grass clippings, shredded paper/cardboard or dry leaf litter as your next layer –let’s call this your dead or dry layer.
Then keep on repeating the kitchen layer followed by the dry layer.
Every now and again add another smaller layer of coarse prunings to help get air into the pile.

Don't forget the DRY matter

People make the mistake of not adding enough of the dry matter to the compost, or to add the coarse prunings. If this is not done it will smell and be sludgy. Just remember it this way: the bacteria that do the major job in the composting process need the dry stuff (carbon-rich material) to give them energy to do the job.

I don’t turn my compost and mine works well with the principles outlined above. And the end product of compost, the humus can be used anywhere to enrich soil, or as potting mix etc. Happy composting.