For more information, please contact Environmental Services:
Telephone:
01638 719284
Email:
envhealth@forest-heath.gov.uk
Up to 30% of household rubbish can
be composted instead of being sent to our landfills, making a
useful product for your garden! Composting reduces rubbish and
reuses organic materials.
When organic matter is buried in a landfill site, the airless
conditions prevent the natural composting processes. The materials
ferment, producing both toxic liquids that can leach into nearby
groundwater and methane - an explosive, potent contributor to the
greenhouse effect.
Getting Started
It is surprisingly easy to make your own compost. You do not need
any sophisticated or expensive equipment.
Suffolk County, Borough and District Councils launched a brand new
recycling campaign - 'Compost at Home' at the Spring Garden Show in
April 2005. The campaign aims to encourage Suffolk residents to
transform their kitchen and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost
for a blooming garden.
For information on the composting bins available for purchase
please visit
www.recyclenow.com/compost.
In addition to the compost bins available at the above
website, you will find a variety of different types at garden
centres; alternatively you could make your own container. Homemade
bins can be made from a variety of materials, such as wood offcuts,
pallets or medium-gauge fence wire. Any homemade composting
container will need a lid of some kind to reduce moisture loss and
keep out excess water.
Wormeries
If you live in a flat or have a very small garden, and want to
recycle your kitchen scraps the answer might be a worm-bin. A
wormery can be kept inside or out, on a balcony, in a garage or
shed or under your sink! It will not only provide you with
compost and fertiliser for your plants but it is an
environmentally friendly way to get rid of your organic waste. A
small wormery will cope with the kitchen waste from a family of
four!
To find out more about setting up your own wormery visit
www.wigglywigglers.co.uk
Using your compost
Compost is used as a substitute for peat, improving soil structure
and water retention and slowly releases nutrients back into the
soil. Your compost will be ready to use any time between four
months and two years with the finished compost found at or
near the bottom and centre of the compost bin.
To access your compost, lift off the layers of material that have
yet to decompose – this can be returned to the compost bin when you
have removed the compost.
Compost can be applied to your garden at any time. Early spring is
always ideal though as it helps supply the nutrients before
planting. Compost can be dug into the soil, to a depth of four
to six inches. If you are applying compost as a top dressing
you may wish to sift it first.
Remember if you don’t want to make your own compost you can buy
soil improver from each of the councils household waste and
recycling centres.
If you would like to find out more about composting please visit
www.compost.org.uk