Composting cuts cost and carbon
With the growing season now well under way, environmentally-friendly compost, not pillaged from priceless bogland, is at a premium. If you have any sort of garden or plantings why not get into the soul-smug habit of composting some, if not all of your organic left-overs? Even where you don’t have the facilities to make compost your food scraps don’t have to go to waste. Sign up with a collection firm that offers ‘brown bin’ recycling to reduce your carbon footprint and aid the production of bio-gas.
Unless you graze exclusively from pre-packaged prepared meals, generally, you’ll find that you have too much to compost rather than too little. If you don’t, it might be time to review the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet. A good backwash of peelings, cores and waste greens is a sign of a healthy lifestyle. 40% of what most of us fling can be composted or recycled, and once you start avidly dividing up your waste into green bags and biodegradables for the garden system, the reduced weight of the wheelie bin will shock you.
In the kitchen you will need an easily carried container with a lid that will seal against smells to take your waste to the compost bin in the garden. A large ice-cream carton is fine, or you can invest in something smarter, like a Kitchen Caddy from the Ecostore for just €10.99 with its handy carrying handle. www.ecostore.ie. Some system recyclers such as those by Brabantia will include a compost bin.
* Top tips: As you fill the caddy, chop vegetables to aid decomposition. You can line your waste holder in a dedicated compostable bag or, better still, just use a fold of newspaper that sops up any moisture and can be chucked in with the load.
Second-hand palettes can be had from €1 and all that composting with organic green waste and some papery inclusions needs to succeed is air, a little weight pushing the material down, and plenty of time. Balance a few palettes together in a sunny location and layer up organic, biodegrading material and it will in time break down into compost. Worms and many legged workers will surface into the heap and get to work.
A layer of carpet slung over the area will warm things up nicely. If you want something ready made, QuickCrop offer slot together wooden bins in treated timber from €49. www.quickcrop.ie.
Expect a bit of rodent attention for an unsecured compost heap. Place well away from the house and announce your arrival with the barrow with some rough shouting. Eliminating meat, dairy and cooked food from the heap will reduce its draw for buck-toothed tenants.
* Top tips: For open heaps especially, don’t include pet faeces, as cats and dogs are meat eaters and the heap will reek. If you have too many grass clippings, make a separate leaf mould/grass heap including lignin-high, slow-rotting windfalls, prunings, or mulch the grass on the lawn.
The Dalek style is popular in cold composting for its ergonomic upright flared profile and the simple application of accumulating weight from above. Fed through a twist or drop down lid, finished compost is dug is out from the base through a sliding or hinged hatch.
Ventilation slots on the side add crucial oxygenation for decomposition. It can take six months to provide the black gold. No-one could ever claim the Dalek was a looker, but set on a few pavers and shielded by a couple of fence panels orientated for some partial sun — surely most of us could stand the strain? Look for a bin with a large retrieval flap or a set of elevating legs as lunging around the base for the finished compost can be a challenge.
Keen gardeners will prefer at least two 250l to 350l Daleks for their needs during the growing season. As a handsome alternative, the Beehive Composter in pressure-treated timber comes in six detachable layers at a stinging €180. www.gardencompost.ie.
* Top tips: In general aim for two parts of green material to one part brown. This will ensure a good moisture balance without the compost becoming gelatinous or dry.
Unlike an open heap, you need to add moisture where needed. Scrunched newspaper can dry out a slimy bin.
Tumblers are an active mechanical ‘stomach’ famed for handling large amounts of green material in as little as two weeks. Rather than sitting percolating in a ‘cold’ composter, they are manually aerated by turning the unit and, if placed in a sunny position, have a quick cook time. A tumbler with geared handle, mounted on a moveable frame in polypropylene or metal can cost as much as €425 for the celebrated Little-Pig range with a double digester design, (www.gyi.ie), but there are two new alternatives for cooking up hot stuff on a budget.
The Rollimix, a sealed heavy vinyl bag with hooped ends, fills up like a sports bag and set on a soft surface like grass you take the 120l contents for a manual assault of heaves across the ground. It takes up to 156l, but twang open those muscles and know your limit, (www.quickcrop.ie).
Carbery Plastics in Cork threw out the notion of troublesome drives and shattered spines with their innovative Roto. Consisting of a PVC barrel set horizontally, it’s indented with runners that glide over casters on a robust base.
Fed from a generous side mounted hatch, you grab the deep holds on the sides of the Roto, and give it and yourself a good work out every few days for compost in as little as six weeks. I’ve tried it out bin-to-border, and set in a warm spot to get things cooking, it does just as promised at €99. A set of two 200L Rotos would be ideal for grow-your-own green warriors.
* Top tips: Weeds high in nitrogen can be used as activator layers, especially nettles. Don’t compost dangerous, invasive weeds such as ragwort as you may redistribute roots and seeds.
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