Compost

What is compost?  

Composting is nature's way of recycling garden and food waste into a rich soil known as compost. Anything that was once living, this is sometimes called organic, will compost. By composting your organic waste you are returning the nutrients (the good stuff) from the food and garden waste back into the soil. This means that you can grow more plants, which can be composted, the compost can be put back onto the soil, which will grow more plants. Finished compost looks like soil–dark brown, crumbly and smells almost sweet.

How do I compost my food and garden waste at home?

It is not difficult to compost your fruit and vegetable scraps and garden waste. You just need a little planning, somewhere good to put it and a little help from your friends.

Making compost is like creating a meal for your garden. To make a good meal you need the right ingredients and to put the right amount in.  

Like us, a compost bin needs a balanced diet with a wide range of different ingredients. This includes GREEN materials, which are rich in Nitrogen (e.g. fruit and vegetable peelings and grass cuttings) as well as BROWN materials, which are rich in Carbon (e.g. shredded paper, cardboard or twigs).

To make great compost you need a good mixture of wet things (Greens) and dry things (Browns), try to put these in layers and mix them around regularly using a spade, this will to allow air to get in and keep it at the right temperature (of between 40 and 70 degrees centigrade).

To make composting work well we need to think about:

• Food – the Browns and Greens mix of ingredients
• Water – this comes from the wet Green ingredients
• Air – this comes from the structure of the Brown ingredients
• Warmth – this comes from the sun and the activities of tiny organisms

Tiny Organisms??

A healthy compost heap will have millions of tiny organisms and minibeasts living in it. These are bacteria, fungi, worms, spiders, ants, centipedes and beetles.

These creatures work in different ways to break down the food and garden waste into the compost. They work really hard to do this and this makes heat which heats up the compost. The tiny organisms and minbeasts are very important because the waste would not turn into compost without them.

It is important to make sure that the compost mixture doesn't get too wet or too dry, so your compost container will need a lid. If the mix looks too wet, then add more dry Browns and if it looks too dry, then add more wet Greens or sprinkle with water.

Can I compost any other way?

Yes, some people in Devon put out their garden and food waste out for the council to collect. It is taken to a ‘special’ compost factory where compost is made using a high tech version of the home composting. Firstly machines shred the waste to make it smaller. It then goes into a large concrete room where air is pumped in to speed up the natural composting process. Thermometers are used to make sure that the garden and food waste reaches 60 degrees C for 2 days (48hours) which means that any harmful bacteria is killed off. It then goes into another concrete room for another 48hours. After this time it is taken outside and put in long thin piles to give it more time to mature. These piles are regularly turned using diggers. When the compost is ready it is put through a machine which takes out all the contamination (anything that should not be there eg plastic, metals etc) and then through another machine which sieves it to make it into small pieces. The whole process takes about 12-18 weeks to make compost. Farmers take this compost and spread it on their fields, which then grow food which is eaten and any food waste is then collected by the council and taken to be composted – it’s a cycle, like a water cycle or life cycle.

Adults can take garden waste to any of Devon’s Recycling Centres as well. From here it is taken to small farms around Devon to be made into compost. First it is shredded to make it into small pieces and then it is put into long thin piles, these piles are regularly turned using diggers to make sure that lots of air can get to the garden waste and help break it down into compost. When it is ready, one farm then bags up the compost and sells it at recycling centres. This means that people are buying back their own garden waste for them to put back into their gardens!

Why compost?  

There are many reasons why we should compost:

• If we put food and garden waste into a landfill site it would rot (not compost) and this makes methane and carbon dioxide gases. These are bad greenhouse gases which are making the planet warmer in a process called climate change.
• It is also good for the environment because we should avoid sending it to landfill sites as they are filling up. If we compost, then we are saving space in the landfill site.
• Composting is a great natural way to put nutrients back into the soil, this means we do not need to use man made chemicals called artificial fertilisers. This is good for our environment.
• Composting can save money as you don’t need to buy more compost for your garden, also if you grow fruit and vegetables then you don’t have to buy so many, so you save money twice!
• Composting provides a home and food for many minibeasts
• It’s great fun!

To play the compost4fun game click here or why not help Wallace the Worm find the right food, not Junk Food, click here.