written by Irina Nedelcu on June 3, 2010Do you have a compost bin at home? Or maybe you use one at work? Do you know what should go in it and what shouldn’t? Here’s a list of things that are compost material and things that aren’t.
Compost bins make all the difference: I always feel bad having to throw away skins and peels that might qualify for food, but thanks to the compost bin it’s like waste has a purpose now.
But compost bins can be as tricky as recycling if you don’t know what you’re doing.
So here’s a quick guide to what can go in the compost bin – what accelerates the rotting process – and what can’t.
The easiest way to spot the difference is to remember what goes in by colour: there’s the greens and the browns that are compost material. The greens are the quickest to rot while being an important source of nitrogen and moisture while the browns provide carbon and fibre and allow air pockets to form.
Green section includes:
- tea bags,
- grass cutting,
- vegetable peelings
- salad leaves
- fruit scraps
- old flowers
- nettles
- coffee grounds
- filter paper
- spent bedding plants
- rhubarb leaves
- young annual weeds (such as chickweed)
Brown section includes:
- cardboard
- egg boxes
- scrunched up paper
- fallen leaves
- sawdust
- twigs
- branches
- bark
And finally the NO list – what should never go in the compost bin:
- meat
- cooked vegetables
- dairy products
- diseased plants
- dog poo
- cat litter
- nappies
- weeds with seed heads
Feel free to add your comments and extend any of the two lists.
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Sion
