COMPOSTING

Compost at home and reduce your waste to landfill, potentially reducing your waste service charges, while saving on fertiliser for your garden.

Why Compost? Composting has many benefits:

• Composting is the breakdown of organic matter, producing free organic matter for the garden. Adding compost improves the structure of soil and helps plants grow.
• Organic waste, like fruit and vegetable peelings and garden waste, is reused rather than entering the waste stream.
• Less waste sent to landfill means a financial saving to the Council, which in turn means improved services for you.
• If you have children, composting is a great educational tool to teach them about biological processes. What you put in is transformed from organic waste to nutrient rich food for your garden.

• Fruit and vegetable peelings
• Salad scraps
• Coffee grounds
• Tea bags
• Soft prunings (eg. flowers or branch tips)
• Old plants and flowers
• Small wooden prunings
• Weeds (not noxious)
• Vegetable patch trimmings
• Bedding from vegetarian pets
• Autumn leaves in moderation
• Grass cuttings

It is better not to put eggshells, meat, fish or cooked food in the composter as it will attract rats, cockroaches and other vermin.

To discourage rats from burrowing under the composter and going in to the composter you can place chicken wire onto the space where your composter is to be located and fold the exposed wire around the bin and secure with thread wire. In addition sprinkle some cayenne pepper around the bin to discourage them even further.

Learn more about composting by playing the Waste Game

Council does not provide composting services or compost bins.  To purchase compost bin contact your local nursery or hardware store.