Everyone can compost! The best option depends on where you live and your personal circumstances.
Over 40% of the contents of an average UK household bin can be home composted, yet many people are still binning this fantastic resource.
Why you should compost
Composting is an easy way to make use of food that can no longer be eaten. Transform your banana skins and veg peelings into soil that grows new food. Composting keeps food scraps out of the waste bin, leaving your kitchen smelling nicer, and reduces incidents of seagulls and foxes ripping up bin bags while searching for food.
Different types of composting
Small spaces and indoors
Good option for patios or balconies. You don’t need a big garden.
– Wormery: can be placed on a patio or balcony. It involves living beings (worms!) that turn scraps to soil, but needs a bit of care to stop smells. Make sure to follow instructions from your supplier to avoid citrus. Other tips to remember are to drain the liquid and keep warm in the winter. Cost is around £60.
– Some models of wormeries are suitable for indoor use. For those of you without a garden, this could go in your kitchen.
Gardens and at home
These types will need to be placed on grass or earth.
– A ‘Dalek’ / ‘Green Johanna’ composting bin. It’s cheap (roughly £35) and easy to set up, but turning the compost can be difficult.
– Build your own compost bin if you like a bit of DIY. You may choose to lay some heavy-duty wire mesh to prevent rats from burrowing up underneath, though not every site may need this. This can be free if you use pallets. This style can be hard to turn and can take a long time to become compost
Bigger scale (community groups, gardens & schools)
Compost tumblers are a good option if you want to process raw & cooked food in larger quantities and need to process much more quickly.
– There are different types with varying capacity and processing speed. Prices range from £250 to £5000.
If you are a community group, we may be able to support or fund you to start up your composting system through the Food Use Places project.
No space (community option)
Join our Community Composting scheme in your area. if you have no outdoor space or want to compost as part of a community.
Bring your raw food waste to a shared compost site to create soil for local gardens, schools, and community growers.
Use your council food waste kitchen caddy for cooked food. Find out more
Alternative composting schemes
– Compost Club offer a paid collection service for household food waste. They are a local business, with heaps of knowledge about soil and worms and with ethics at their heart.
– Make Soil is a website that connects ‘Soil Makers’ (people who make compost) with ‘Soil Supporters’ (people who donate their scraps). Sign up and join their global movement or start up a ‘Soil Site’ of your own.
