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Composting saves you money and turns organic household waste such as teabags, fruit and vegetable peelings into a valuable product for your garden and greatly reduces the amount of household waste you send to landfill.
If you have a garden, composting is easy and takes up very little time or space and in the end can save you money!
GETTING STARTED
Choose the right place for your compost bin – make sure the bin has contact with the soil.
Ensure your compost will be moist but well aerated and will encourage insect activity and ultimately better compost.
Don’t place the compost bin or heap too far from your house – which will make using it easier.
THE RIGHT MIX!
Separate your organic kitchen waste and garden waste from all other waste, put it in your compost bin and mix regularly.
Getting a balance between green and brown waste is essential. A good mix of browns and greens achieves the best balance and also helps with the aeration and amount of water in the pile.
Generally add two parts green to one part brown - too much of one or the other and you won’t make good compost.
Browns' are dry and dead plant materials such as straw, dry brown weeds, autumn leaves, and wood chips or sawdust.
'Greens' are fresh plant materials such as grass cuttings, green weeds, and plant cuttings from the garden, fruit peelings, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and tea bags.
WHAT CAN I COMPOST?
| Greens |
Browns |
| Garden waste
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Kitchen paper
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| Leaves |
Sawdust and wood shavings
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| Weeds (not weed seeds)
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Straw |
| Dead Plants and flowers
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Paper |
| Grass and hedge cuttings |
Wood |
| Branches and twigs
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Twigs and branches (cut into pieces)
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| Fruit, vegetables (cooked or uncooked)
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Crushed egg shells
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Tea bags and coffee
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Feathers |
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WHAT CANNOT BE COMPOSTED?
Do Not Compost
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Why it can't be composted
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| Raw and cooked meat, bones |
Attracts pests |
| Poultry and fish |
Attracts pests |
| Dairy products |
Attracts pests |
| Greasy oily food such as mayonaise or butter |
Attracts pests and decompose slowly |
| Dog or cat litter |
May contain pathogens |
| Non-biodegradable (plastics, glass, metals) |
Will not decompose |
| Glossy papers and magazines |
The glossy coating will not decompose |
| Weed seeds |
Speads weeds |
| Diseased plant material |
Danger of spreading disease to other plants |
| Garden waste recently sprayed with pesticide |
Chemicals need time for thorough decomposition |
| Sawdust and wood shavings from treated wood |
Chemicals need time for thorough decomposition |
| Disposable nappies, used paper tissue |
Could potentially contain pathogens (disease causing organisms) |
THE COMPOST DOCTOR - TROUBLESHOOTING
The Problem
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The Solution |
| The compost material appears dark and soggy, how can I dry it out? |
Try adding new fresh material. Avoid adding too many grass clippings at once, as these will make the material wet. If the compost is in a cool place, try moving it to a warmer spot. |
| My compost heap is beginning to smell, what should I do? |
If the pile is not getting enough air, nitrogen builds up, causing odour problems. Turn the material each day and add some soil and woody material to create air pockets. Also ensure that cooked food is not being added. |
| My compost bin is attracting pests, what should I do? |
Avoid adding meat bones, dairy products and grease, which attract vermin and dogs etc. Narrow wire mesh attached to the bottom of bottomless bins should help. |
| I found slugs in the bin, what should I do? |
Slugs are one of the creatures that help the composting process. You can take out any visible slugs and dispose of them in an organic fashion. The numbers will not increase dramatically as a result of composting.
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| After spreading the compost in my garden, weeds began to grow. Why did this happen? |
The bin is not getting hot enough to kill of the weed seeds. Make the mix hotter by finely shredding the materials and by not adding plants that contain seeds. Digging the compost into the garden will reduce the chances of the seeds growing
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| The pile is dry and not doing anything, what should I do to help the process? |
Add some fresh greens and mix in |
| How can I reduce the number of flies around the bin? |
Add a layer of soil layer or newspaper to distract flies |
WHERE CAN I GET A COMPOST BIN?
For those in Ballymun, call GAP office (01-8625846) to see what composting programmes are being run by GAP, BRL and DCC.
Otherwise call your local council as most subsidise compost bins.
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