Home composting guide - top ten tips
Ten top tips to help you with your home composting.
- Put your bin on a level, well-drained spot. This allows excess water to drain out and makes it easier for helpful creatures such as worms to get in and break down the contents.
- Put your bin in a partially sunny spot, this can help speed up the composting process.
- Put 'Greens' in you compost bin as they are quick to rot and give important nitrogen and moisture. Greens include: vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, coffee grounds and coffee filters, plant remains, and grass cuttings.
- Put 'Browns' in your compost mixture. They are slower to rot but provide fibre and carbon and allow air pockets to form in the mix. Browns include: cardboard egg boxes, scrunched up paper, fallen leaves, eggshells.
- To avoid unwanted pests and to prevent odour, never put the following in your compost bin: cooked vegetables, meat, fish and bones, dairy products, diseased plants, baby nappies, dog mess or cat litter.
- Avoid composting perennial weeds such as dandelions or thistles, or weeds with seed heads.
- Keep your Greens and Browns properly balanced. If your compost is too wet add more Browns, if it’s too dry add some Greens.
- Add scrunched up bits of cardboard to your mixture to create air pockets. Air is important to keep your compost healthy. Air can also be added by mixing the contents
- Spread the finished compost into your flowerbeds. It will greatly improve soil quality by helping it retain moisture and suppressing weeds.
- If you have excess garden waste that cannot be composted, register with our garden waste recycling service. We will collect your garden waste and take it to be composted so it can be used in parks and green spaces in Lambeth. For more information visit our garden waste page or call the Service Centre on 020 7926 9000.
Remember that plastics, glass and metals are not suitable for composting and should be recycled separately.