Home composting is an easy and effective way to deal with garden waste and food scraps from your kitchen. Bugs and microbes found naturally in the soil in your garden break down this waste to make compost.
You can build your own compost heap or buy a compost bin at a garden centre.
What can I compost?
The key to good compost lies in getting the right mix of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials:
Green materials include:
- Grass cuttings
- Plant prunings
- Young weeds (that have not seeded)
- Dead flowerheads
- Raw fruit and veg peelings
- Coffee grounds and tea bags
- Houseplants and cut flowers
Brown materials include:
- Dry leaves
- Wood chips and twigs
- Cardboard kitchen/toilet roll tubes and eggboxes
- Shredded paper
- Sawdust and wood shavings
- Straw/hay
- Herbivorous pet (rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs) bedding
The following must not be put into compost:
- Meat, fish and all cooked food.
- Bread.
- Cheese.
- Oil and fat.
- Cat litter and dog poo.
- Nappies.
- Coal ash.
- Weeds with seeds.
- Diseased plants.
For more information about home composting please downloads our leaflet.
If I can't compost at home, what else can I do?
- Take your garden waste to your local Household Waste and Recycling Centre.
- Find out if your property has a brown bin collection and purchase a garden waste collection permit.