For more information, please contact Environmental Services:
Telephone:
01638 719284
Email:
sort-it
@forest-heath.gov.uk
Up to 30% of household rubbish can
be home composted instead of being sent to our landfills,
making a useful product for your garden! Home composting
reduces rubbish and reuses organic materials. It also
saves you money on expensive fertilizers or soil
improvers.
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. Carbon emissions are also produced in the
collection and transportation of this easily home compostable
waste.
Getting Started
It is surprisingly easy to make your own compost. You do not need
any sophisticated or expensive equipment.
For information on setting up your home composting bin and
advice on how to make and use compost please visit
www.recyclenow.com/compost.
Please note - Suffolk council's subsidised compost bin
offer closed on 30th September. Details of new compost bin offers
for 2010 will be announced later in the year.
Meanwhile, you will find a variety of compost bins at
garden centres or online; 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. Old carpets make
excellent lids.
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.
Further help
If you are not able to make your own compost you can buy soil
improver from each of the councils
Household Waste Recycling Centres
All excess garden waste that you can't manage at home can
be taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centre
If you would like to find out more about composting please visit
www.compost.org.uk