Waste Free- Home Composting

Home Composting turns your garden and kitchen waste into a useful soil enhancer for your garden and reduces the volume of waste in your household bins.

Home composting is a great way to keep your garden clippings and your kitchen food waste out of the bin. You can put in all sorts including garden clippings, flowers, fruit peelings, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, ripped up cardboard, tissues.

Compost bins can be purchased from DIY stores for around £30 or you could always make your own from pallets, an old plastic box or even just set a side a corner to make a compost pile.

Why composting?

Composting is nature's own way of recycling. Although for many properties in West Lothian food waste is collected along with garden waste in the brown bin, making compost at home has many benefits for your garden and the environment, such as:

By converting your kitchen and garden waste into compost you will reduce the amount of material you're putting into your household bin and save some space.
The end product contains organic matter which gives similar nutrients to fertilisers due to the natural breakdown of kitchen and garden waste therefore providing plants, soil and turf with an effective natural feed. In addition, it has a unique composition, which allows the soil or turf to hold moisture for longer therefore requiring less water.
As a bonus, by producing less landfill waste you will also cut the amount of methane and carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere - significant greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

What Can I Compost at Home?

Small branches and twigs, leaves and real Christmas trees

Kitchen/Household Waste
Yes Please	No Thanks
Fruit and vegetable peelings/scraps Tea leaves/bags and coffee grounds Egg shells and boxes (not plastic packaging) Wool/wool clothing Vacuum bag contents Paper items e.g: scrunched up cardboard, egg boxes, toilet roll tubes, cereal boxes, newspaper, shredded paper, tissues, napkins and paper towels	Cooked food Meat, fish and bones Dairy products Coal or coke ash (a small amount of wood ash is okay) Nappies, glass, plastic or metal Bread Animal waste and bedding Liquid food waste e.g. oil, yogurt
Garden Waste
Yes Please	No Thanks
Cut flowers Nettles Garden and house plants Grass cuttings Young annual weeds Shredded twigs Hedge trimmings Pond algae & seaweed Dry leaves Small twigs Pine needles & cones Wood chippings and sawdust	Weeds about to seed Diseased plants Large woody items Plants treated with pesticides

How to Start Composting

The easiest way to start composting is by either finding a small space in your garden to create a compost pile or by purchasing a plastic compost bin. You can get these for about £30 from most DIY stores. For more information about how to start composting and making your own compost bin, please see our factsheets below:

Check out the videos below for some more information on the composting process:

Setting up your compost bin

Getting the right mix

Making it happen

Knowing when your compost is ready

Putting your compost to good use

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Types of Composting

There are various ways to compost depending on the time and space you have available. Below you will find some useful information on the different types of composting:

Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting means worm composting. It is a good way to turn kitchen waste and small amounts of garden waste into nutrient-rich compost and concentrated liquid fertiliser. It is not a substitute for conventional composting. Find out more about about vermicomposting. (opens new window) on the Planet Natural website.

Mulching

This is a way of providing a covering over ground to protect the roots of plants from heat, cold, or evaporation, prevent soil loss, control weeds and enrich the soil, Find out more about mulching (opens new window) on the RHS website.

Hot Composting

Hot composting uses the same process as normal/cold composting however by managing the material used in the composter and using a more insulated bin this process generates more microbial action and therefore more heat, encouraging the material to break down faster and create compost quicker than a traditional compost bin. Check out our Hot Composting Factsheet (PDF, 139 KB)(opens new window) for more information.