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Composting is a great way to reduce your food waste and contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. But it can also seem like a daunting task, the sort of thing only seasoned gardeners with enormous yards can do right. What goes into it? How do you make sure it doesn't reek? And what even is composting?
Composting isn't as hard (or as smelly) as you've been led to believe. Anyone can compost in any location, as long as they understand the basics of this all-natural process.
Compost is simply decayed organic matter — and "organic matter" is a pretty wide-ranging label. A twig can be organic matter, but so can a banana peel. When you mix a bunch of these items together in a compost pile, they break down naturally into a nutrient-rich fertilizer that helps gardens grow.
Composting involves a lot of collecting — into a pile, heap, or bin. Instead of throwing out your coffee grounds or veggie scraps throughout the week, you just load them into your compost. The rest of the rules depend on where you're keeping that compost: indoors or outside.
Here is a poster of what we place in our Composting Bins at SFCC. What we should not place in the compost bin is mandarin/orange peels as the acidity will fatally harm worms and other organisms that will help decompose our waste. Also, onion and garlic is a big no no!
We should be placing our food scraps and other decomposable items into the compost bin so that there will be less rubbish going to landfill or general waste. There are also many other uses for compost such as placing in worm farms for decomposing, garden beds that will help plants thrive and yummy treats for our chickens!
When the food in your trash goes to a landfill, it emits methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Composting is a way to minimise those methane emissions, but it does a lot more than that. Because compost is used as a fertiliser, it reduces the need for chemical options, which can be harsh on the earth.
As you collect items in your compost, aim for a mix of nitrogen-rich "green" material and carbon-heavy "brown" material. Green materials tend to be wet, and include your fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and tea leaves. Brown materials are drier, and span sawdust, newspaper clippings, and trimmings from dead plants.
First Steps to Composting
First Steps to Composting
The Deal with Worm Farming
The Deal with Worm Farming
Worm farming is sustainable way to dispose of unwanted food waste. Food scraps are placed in the worm farm regularly and special farm worms eat their way through it. The worms in a worm farm are different to the garden worms you find when digging in your garden.
It is important not to over-feed your worms. Only add more composting food when the first lot is nearly eaten. Once your worms start multiplying, you will be able to give them more food. Worms eat a variety of kitchen scraps, but some are unpleasant for them to eat or can change the acidity of their bedding.
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