Composting - 10/05/11

If you are struggling to find a way to be more “green” at home then composting is one of the best things to do for the environment. Composting is also a great educational tool to teach your family about recycling and fertilising. You don’t even need to have a lot of space to start composting – you can make one in your kitchen.

According to the Centre for Organic and Resource Enterprises (CORE) each year over half of our household garbage is made up of food and garden waste. Most of this organic waste can be recycled by composting it. And when we don’t recycle this kind of waste and simply bury it without air in landfill it causes over three per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions annually by producing methane, which is a contributor to global warming.

Also, using compost on land reduces the need for water by an average of 30 per cent.

To make kitchen compost:

1. Get a plastic bin or wooden box.
2. Fill the box with damp paper and cardboard shreddings. This is called the worm's “bedding”.
3. Add worms that you can get at a local bait shop.
4. Put your scraps/leftovers under the bedding.
5. The worms will turn the waste into castings that you can then put on your garden.

What to add to your home composting bin:

Vegetable and fruit scraps, vegetable oil, pruning and lawn clippings, tea bags and coffee, grounds, vacuum dust, shredded paper and cardboard, used potting mix, egg shells, flowers.

What not to add to your home composting bin:

Meat and bones, dairy products, diseased plants, metals, plastic and glass, animal manures, fat, magazines, large branches, weeds that have seeds or underground stems, bread or cake, sawdust from treated timber, onions, citrus.

(Source: CORE)

For more information:

http://www.compostweek.com.au

http://meetthegreens.pbskids.org/episode4/kitchen-composting.html