Mama Learns a Lesson about Waste (Composting in general)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Composting in general
Date:	13/11/07 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: for more than just grass and garden clippings, een a daily used composter has room as the "rotting"

Disadvantages: people in flats or with small gardens assume they can't compost

I was so excited when we moved to our new house two years ago. The house was roomier, the garden was bigger, and it had features that fit our lifestyle very well. Add in the fact that our new council gave every household its own composter, and I was happy. Yes, I had wanted a compost bin for some time. I wanted to be able to compost those veggie peelings and grass and shrub clippings and use the result in my own garden.

I happily did this for about two years, until one day while putting out our bin, my six year old asked me why we did not recycle envelopes and cardboard. I explained the reasons to her (our council does not do them), and she asked if they could be composted. I had to admit that excepting for the plastic windows and tape on some items, they could indeed. She then asked me what else we could compost. This then led to a challenge. She wanted to help compost everything possible, recycle everything possible, and see how long it would take to fill or bin or for it to get smelly. Thinking this was a good opportunity to try out for some more green cred, and also teach a lesson on environmental responsibility, I agreed.

Egg shells, vegetable peelings, envelopes with the plastic windows torn out, cardboard boxes and card inserts, you name it, if it was safely compostable, we put it in there. I have to admit I was astonished at how quickly my composter filled up, but the very next week, I had more than enough room in it again. Flies? Just a few little fruit flies, under the lid, but no nasty crawlies to be seen. Not having a lot of grass and such to place in during these cooler months, we added some ordinary earth worms. Wow, the pile got smaller and smaller...more room for more stuff! Combined with our kerbside recycling, and the rinsing and crushing of our milk jugs and other recyclable plastic bottles taken by the boxful once a fortnight to the local Tesco recycling point, our rubbish bin looked decidedly forlorn. One biodegradable carrier bag went in after 10 days. Another about a fortnight later, being mostly silica cat litter. No wasted food in this house, and the remaining organic matter primarily consigned to the wormy composter, also meant non smelly bin.

More weeks passed, and finally, we had a strip of carpet that got thrown in. Hmmmmm......not even halfway full yet. Six weeks in, and composting these things, added to our recycling scheme, has seemingly made an impact. Amazon deliveries happened. The plastic film was removed, the boxes torn up, and added to the composter. A few forlorn ephemeral pieces of cling film was the only visible wastage from several deliveries. It got to be a bit of a game. Paying more attention to packaging, we looked for things that were bin free in content and if not recyclable, was compostable, or that would take up less space in said bin.

In the end, we put our bin out a full 16 weeks later (about 4 months). I was amazed at what an achievement that was for a family of four with two cats, especially with one still in the ocasional night nappy (cloth of course!). Having set an empty ice cream tub next to the kettle and coffee machine, I can tell you we could not have done it without the composter. The ice cream tub would be filled with bread crusts, flour brushed from the counter, tea bags, coffee filters and grounds, peelings, etc. and need to be dumped each evening. Add in the casual way we bin those unrecyclable envelopes, especially given the volume of them we receive rom junk mailings and statements that come with fliers and response envelopes, and what not. Advertisements on card thrust through our doors, consigned casually to the bin when a seconds thought would see it in the kitchen's "compost bucket" (as we called the ice cream tub). It all mounted up amazingly fast, and the void in my bin spoke volumes. I had thought with my kerbside recycling I was doing a good job on helping keep down landfill. Hey, I was only putting out a half empty bin each week! But this little exercise in the full usage of my composter tells me just how much more I could have been doing all along with a minimum of effort.

I think it is an effort more of us could make. Never mind if you don't garden and have no use for the compost, offer it on Freecycle. Someone will come take the compost off your hands! This is my experience. I won't bore you will all the how to get starteds, as there are so many different composting solutions to fit every lifestyle, that truly, you need to find out what sits you, and what you then can and can't put into it. You can find that information here:
www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/composting/ind ex.html

Before buying anything, though, check out your council's website as often they offer free and discounted offers on composters and wormeries.

Summary: Composting responsibly greatly reduces household waste, and is easir than you think