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STOP PRESS - REDUCED PRICE COMPOST BINS & ACCESSORIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO SUFFOLK RESIDENTS. SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS

Why Compost?

Up to 30% of household rubbish can be composted instead of going to our landfill sites, making a nutrient-rich compost for your garden at the end of it! Home composting helps reduce rubbish and is the most environmentally friendly way of re-using organic materials.

When organic matter is buried in a landfill site, the airless conditions prevent 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.

Get Composting in 2010 with bargain Compost Bins & Accessories

It's surprisingly easy to make your own compost. You don't need any sophisticated or expensive equipment and to help Suffolk Councils have teamed up to offer a range of affordable compost bins, accessories and alternative composting systems. Suffolk residents can buy a basic compost bin for as little as £14 (+ £5 delivery charge).

For details of the products available through the Suffolk Home Compost scheme and to order online click here or call the order line on 0844 571 4444.

Wormeries - If you are a flat-dweller 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 & fertiliser for your plants but it is an environmentally friendly way to get rid of your organic waste. A small womery will cope with the kitchen waste from a family of four!

Certain types of worms which live near the soil surface are ideal for worm-bins and, when fully grown, they can eat up to their own weight in food-scraps every day. They produce 'castings', known to organic farmers as 'black gold', which is nutrient rich and which plants thrive on. Wormeries do take a little more time to tend but once settled, they seldom present problems as long as they are fed little and often, and not allowed to get too cold.

Listen to and watch Wiggly Walter to find out how easy it is to compost with worms (20MB WMV file)

Suffolk residents can purchase a reduced cost 'Can-o-worms' wormery from only £50 - click here for further details and to order online - or call 0844 571 4444

To find out more about setting up your own wormery visit www.wigglywigglers.co.uk

Other options: Grass cycling involves leaving cuttings on the lawn. The process helps to protect the lawn from drying out. Autumn leaves make great mulching. Simply collect up the leaves and place in a black plastic bag with a few holes punched in the sides. Tie the top and leave the leaves to rot down.

Through separate collection: Some councils operate a service for collecting organic materials. If so, you can help by always remembering to separate and save your garden and kitchen waste for your council to collect and compost.

At a household waste and recycling site: If you have too much garden waste or its too big for your compost bin - don't bin it! Bulky materials such as hedge trimmings and grass cuttings, (but not other garden waste such as rubble) can be recycled in special containers at all of our 18 Household Waste & Recycling Centres. All green waste collected at the sites is shredded and composted to produce soil improver. Bags of soil improver are available to buy at each site.

What to Compost at Home

YES

• Vegetable peelings & Fruit Scraps
• Tea bags / leaves and coffee grounds
• Grasscuttings (best mixed with harder materials)
• Crushed egg shells
• Finely chopped shrub prunings
• Most garden weeds
• Pot plants
• Straw & Hay
• Small amounts of pet waste if your pet has a vegetarian diet (eg rabbits and guinea pigs)

NO

• Cooked vegetables, meat/fish scraps, bread, fat or bones (including cheese/dairy products)
• Disposable nappies
• Pernicious weeds (ie. Bindweed, thistle roots)
• Coal Ash
• Cat or Dog Litter
• Large unchopped woody branches (best taken to your local household waste site)
• Plants infected with persistent diseases such as club root or onion white rot

Making Compost

1. Start by collecting enough material to make a layer at least 15cm (6in)
2. deep, including soft leafy stuff and tougher material.
3. Chop up any large pieces, mix well on the ground and water sparingly if dry.
4. Put the material into the bin.
5. Reuse an old bit of carpet by placing it on top of the material which will keep the heat in.
6. Keep the bin covered to keep the rain out.
7. Then simply add material as it becomes available.
8. Thick layers will heat up more than thin ones, and will help make your compost quicker.
9. You can also speed up decomposition by turning the material with a fork, adding air and helping to mix the materials.
10. If the material is dry, add water.

Composting can take from 6-18 months, depending on the time of year and the materials used. You can tell it is ready as the materials will not be recognisable and the compost is dark, with an earthy smell. The finished product will be at the bottom of your heap and can be removed to put on the garden but not on acid-loving plants which do not like compost. If some of the materials have not finished composting put them back into your composter where they will assist the process by introducing the micro-organisms that convert your waste into a useful product.

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 4 months and 2 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've 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.

Further Help

You can ring the RecycleNow Compost Helpline for further advice about composting: 0845 600 0323. (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Sat, 9am-1pm)

And a website you can visit for information about composting: www.recyclenow.com/compost