St Nicholas Fields : York Rotters : Compost

Why and how to Compost

Composting reduces landfill:Over a third of the contents of the average rubbish bin can easily be composted. By composting your own waste, you save valuable space in landfill and fuel used to take it there.
Composting helps curb global warming: If green waste is sent to landfill, it rots producing the powerful greenhouse gas methane. Composting green waste correctly does not produce this gas.
Composting eliminates the need for peat: Peat is a declining resource and its extraction for use in gardening damages rare habitats. It can be easily replaced with compost as a growing medium, soil improver or mulch.
Composting helps wildlife:Compost heaps provide a feeding ground or shelter for many useful creatures: fungi, woodlice, millipedes, worms, common newts, toads, slowworms, birds...
Composting benefits your garden: Healthy soil means healthy plants and adding compost improves both soil fertility and structure. Few if any soil improvers need to be added on top of compost.

Did you know?
Around one third of all food gets chucked away rather than eaten. It is the food waste which makes rubbish bins smell. If you compost it instead, your bin will be slimmer and fresher smelling too!

How to compost

Composting is very easy and doesn't require much time or space - you don't even need a garden to do it! There is a wide variety of composting equipment available to suit every composter's needs but it's best to start with something basic and cheap as you can always get more fancy equipment later when you’ve got the hang of the process.

A lady composting garden waste Getting started:

1. Think of the type of waste you want to turn into fantastic compost
Is it mostly garden waste or kitchen waste? Is it only one type and not the other? The size and type of composter will be determined by the amount and type of waste you will be putting into it.

2. How much space have you got?
Composters come in many sizes to fit almost any space but they can’t be too small or they wouldn’t work well. A standard compost bin works best if you place it on soil in a sunny position but it is not essential. A bin with a base or a wormery will work fine on hard surfaces.

3. Make or buy a composter
Once you know how much space you have and how much waste you are likely to compost, make or buy a suitable compost bin/ food waste digester/ wormery. We can help you make the right choice – either follow our general recommendations below or contact Rotters.

Composting in a garden: just about any kind of composter or food digestor can be used in a garden to compost both garden and kitchen waste but particularly suitable are ‘daleks’, New Zealand bins, green square ones, bokashi, tumbler, wormery, Green Cone or Green Johanna.
Backyard composting: usually requires smallish composters with a base able to cope with mostly kitchen waste - green square ones, fabric composter, bokashi, wormery
Composting in flats: Unfortunately, composting in flats is difficult. Food waste collections require a special licence and quite a bit of investment so they are not likely to come to York for some time. If you are very keen and determined, you could explore the options of communal composting and try to get your neighbours on board but be prepared to face quite a few obstacles – contact Community Composting Network for more advice. If you don’t have any outside space at all (like an allotment or shared garden), the only option we can safely recommend is a wormery – depending on the size they can fit on a balcony or a desktop and you could even make your own.

3. Follow our recipe for good compost:

The right mix of materials -compost bins need a well-balanced diet of about half and half of ‘greens’ (wet, nitrogen-rich materials) and ‘browns’ (mostly dry, carbon-rich materials)
Air - composting minibeasts need air to do their work which can be provided by putting in brown and green waste together and turning the contents. St Nicks shop sells a nifty tool for stirring compost – CompostMate.
Moisture - too little moisture is just as bad as too much so you may need to water your compost. If you place the lid of a dalek bin upside down it collects rainwater which is perfect to put in your bin.
Heat - put a lid on the bin or cover your compost heap to keep in the generated heat, which speeds up the process
Time - depending on how actively you manage your compost, it will take between six to eighteen months

For more detailed advice on composting, contact contact York Rotters or come to one of our free training sessions (check the Events page for nearest dates).

- back to top