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Home composting will benefit your garden by providing you with a free supply of compost, improving the nutrient content of the soil, helping soil structure and improving drainage.
Home composting benefits the environment by stopping garden waste and some kitchen food waste from being thrown away in your dustbin, where it will end up being buried in Essex landfill sites.
Composting can be carried out at home by just heaping your garden rubbish in a corner of your garden or by using a compost bin.
You can make your own compost bin (out of old pallets, tyres then cover with carpet for example) or you can buy a bin from most garden and DIY shops. You can also buy compost bins at extremely low prices from the County Council’s home compost bin scheme.
There are two sizes of compost bin, 220 litre and 330 litre, available to Essex residents at very competitive prices through the County Council's home compost bin scheme.
Where should I put a compost bin?
On soil or grass so that soil creatures can get into the bin.
Place in a good sunny spot if possible. The hotter the compost gets the quicker the rubbish will rot down.
Place somewhere handy to get to (next to a path so that you don't get muddy when it's wet) but a little way from the house just in case the bin attracts flies and other unwanted pests or smells.
What can I put in a compost bin?
The following garden waste can be put in a compost bin:
grass cuttings
dead flowers and end of year annuals
weeds (but not persistent ones)
twigs, cuttings and prunings (hedge, shrub, tree and hardwood plants)
hay, fungi and leaves
sawdust/wood ash
vegetarian pet droppings
small amounts of shredded paper
as well as some food waste such as:
raw fruit and vegetable scraps
tea leaves/bags
coffee grounds
crushed egg shells
Try to put a good mix of wet items (e.g. grass and food scraps) and dry items (e.g. twigs, leaves, pruning) in.
If you have a compost heap we suggest that you only put in garden waste on the heap as food scraps may attract unwanted pests.
What shouldn't I put in a compost bin?
We do not recommend that you put the following in your home compost bin:
raw meat & fish (see items on Kitchen Composters and Green Cones)
cooked food waste (see items on Kitchen Composters and Green Cones)
coal ash (put in your rubbish bin)
cat and dog droppings (wrap securely in a bag or newspaper and put in your rubbish bin)
large amounts of shredded paper (seal in an envelope or cardboard box and put in with cardboard recycling at the Recycling Centre)
card (recycle in your local scheme)
Composting is a natural process of decay, so don't expect finished compost overnight! The process takes part in 2 stages, the speed of which depends upon what you put into your bin, and how you look after it.
In the first stage bacteria and fungi break down the sappy 'greens' heating up the mixture and using lots of oxygen. Typically, this stage takes only 5-10 days.
The mixture then cools, and the next stage begins: larger invertebrates such as beetles, worms and woodlice break down the fibrous 'browns'. These helpful creatures need air too, so it is a good idea to turn or aerate your compost regularly during this stage.
Depending on the mix of materials and the amount of turning this stage may take 3-12 months (like all natural processes, composting is slower in the winter).
When the compost is ready, it's dark and looks and feels like soil, smells good, is pleasant to the touch and crumbles readily.
it can be dug into the soil, adding nutrients and improving the soil structure (helping heavy soils drain and be worked more easily)
it can be spread in thick layers (3-4 inches thick) over planting beds as a mulch, keeping down weeds, preventing water evaporation and slowly feeding the soil
sieving your compost and mixing with soil and a little sand makes an excellent potting medium for houseplants
Leaves contain lignin and take longer than other garden materials to break down. They are best dealt with separately from your compost bin. Place leaves in a bin liner, dampen the leaves, puncture holes in the sides of the bin liner, and leave for a couple of years. Alternatively, leave the leaves in leaf mould piles.
Leaf mould is very good for using where you have rhododendrons, camelias, azaleas, heather, pines or other plants or shrubs which like an acid soil.
Using a compost bin or heap you can compost these food items:
raw fruit (apple cores, all fruit peel)
vegetable scraps (raw potato and vegetable peelings, outer cabbage leaves, lettuce leaves, salad items)
tea leaves and torn tea bags
coffee grounds
crushed egg shells
but not:
raw meat and fish (see items on Kitchen Composters and Green Cones)
cooked food (see items on Kitchen Composters and Green Cones)
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There are two sizes of compost bin, 220 litre and 330 litre, available to Essex residents at very competitive prices through the County Council's home compost bin scheme.
back to top / back to start of About composting food waste
A wormery is an alternative to a traditional composter, ideal for disposing of kitchen food waste especially from flats and houses with small or no gardens. Wormeries produce a good compost and a liquid plant feed.
They're ideal for:-
A wormery is a self contained unit which can be kept inside or outside. These can be home made or bought from garden centres and related retailers. The wormery breaks down the food waste by using special worms called Tiger worms, who live in the wormery and eat the cooked and uncooked food waste. Their manure called worm casts is very beneficial for the soil and plants.
The worms like a cool and moist temperature, but not too cold. If the wormery is kept outside it will need to be insulated during the winter months. The wormeries must have a tap or a way that the liquid produced by the worms can drain out, otherwise the worms will drown.
More details about this type of system are on our page dedicated to Wormeries. This page also includes the link to buy the Essex offer of a wormery.
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Kitchen composters or Bokashi system
All food waste can now be turned into nutrient rich compost. This includes cooked or raw meat, fish or dairy products. It's easy to do using a Kitchen Composter or Bokashi system.
A Kitchen Composter is a small container that can be kept in or near the kitchen. Simply place any left over food into a Kitchen Composter and sprinkle in a handful of Bokashi activator. After 10-14 days, the contents can be safely transferred into a home composter or dug directly into the soil.
There are no smells from the Kitchen Composter as it has an air-tight lid.
The Bokashi activator is made with friendly bacteria which start the composting process off and neutralise any odours.
Full details about this type of system are on our page dedicated to Kitchen Composters. This page also includes the link to buy the Essex offer of a Kitchen Composter kit.
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Using a Green Cone/Green Johanna
A Green Cone is a food waste digester. It is designed to breakdown all food waste into its natural components of water and carbon dioxide and produces very little residue. The residue can be used on your garden. The digestion chamber of a Green Cone will be below ground level so you need to dig a hole about 42 cm deep to set it up. It works best if it's in a sunny position with good drainage.
Although the Green Cone is set up in the garden it is not a composter. It takes all types of food but does NOT deal with garden waste.
This system takes all cooked and uncooked food waste including:
There are a very few exceptions. The following food items should not be put in the Green Cone because they require a very long time to break down:
The Green Cone comes with a 5 litre kitchen caddy for collecting and carrying your household food waste from the kitchen out to the Green Cone.
The Green Cone is available from www.greencone.com or the order line is 0800 731 2572.
A Green Johanna is neither a traditional composter nor a food digester. Its design means it can take all food waste but also requires a third (30%) of the contents to be garden waste. As each new food waste is added it should be covered with a layer of garden litter such as grass cuttings, leaves, twigs, weeds, bark, hedge clippings, trimmings from bushes and trees and other garden waste. It’s best to chop the garden waste into smallish pieces, as this gives the micro organisms more surface area to work on, producing compost more quickly. It’s a good idea to save some garden waste from the autumn to use during the winter months.
The system takes all cooked and uncooked food including:
vegetables and fruit, including peelings
dairy products
bread, cakes, biscuits
meat, bones, fish remains
soup
crushed eggshells
coffee filters containing coffee grounds
tea leaves and torn tea bags
Other suitable household items include:
household paper
cardboard egg cartons
wilted flowers and dead pot plants
When the mixture is mature, it makes a rich compost.
The Green Johanna is available from www.greencone.com or the order line is 0800 731 2572.
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Keep a container with a lid in the kitchen (e.g. ice-cream tub, bucket) for collecting kitchen rubbish for composting so you only need to make one trip to the compost bin each day.
Chop fruit and vegetable scraps and twigs up before placing them in the compost bin as they will rot down more quickly.
If the compost bin is too dry add more wet 'greens', such as grass, weeds and fruit and vegetable scraps.
If the compost is too wet add more dry 'browns' such as twigs, dry leaves, straw and dry plants. Leave grass clippings to dry off for a day or so before placing it in the bin. Add scrunched up pieces of newspaper or small strips of cardboard to help aerate the compost and absorb some of the moisture.
Fruit flies can be a nuisance although they are not doing any harm. You may find a big flurry of them when you take the lid off which is not very pleasant. Either leave the lid off for a day or so or cover the fruit waste with a layer of compost, soil or carpet to stop flies from laying their eggs on the food. The flies are attracted to the fruit and vegetables that are in your bin so you will struggle to get rid of them completely.
If your compost bin smells unpleasant then it does not have enough air and needs to be aerated. Add dry material such as twigs, dry leaves and scrunched up newspaper and cardboard.
If you have a problem with rats in or around your compost bin, there are several things you can do to deter them:-
Put a few layers of chicken wire under the compost bin, bring up around the bottom rim and press firmly against the outside of the bin to form a seal. Rats will find it very difficult to gnaw through the many layers of metal
Rats are shy creatures and only like surroundings that they are familiar with. Place your compost bin away from shrubs and hedges - by having it more out in the open rats are less likely to approach the bin
A useful tip is to change the surroundings of the bin by placing a spade next to it one week, then move it a week later and replace with a watering can, etc. The rat may be phased by the change
Stop placing kitchen food waste in the bin for a while as it is this material to which the rat is attracted. Once the rat has found an alternative source of food it should be safe to try putting food waste in your bin again.
Although some people find it unpleasant, there isn't anything wrong with having a rat in your composter. It's just another creature enjoying your food waste!
