Composting
Compost at home and reduce your waste service charge further while saving on fertiliser for your garden.
Composting has many benefits:
- Composting is the breakdown of organic matter and produces free organic matter for the garden which improves the structure of the soil and helps plants grow.
- Organic waste such as fruit and vegetable peelings and garden waste makes up a substantial part of the waste stream. So residents can help reduce waste as any waste that is composted does not enter the waste stream.
- Council has to pay for rubbish collection costs and disposal. Ultimately, if all residents were composting their kitchen and garden waste at home there would be less waste for Council to collect. Every tonne less to be disposed of means a financial saving to the Council which in turn means improved services for you.
- If you have children, composting is a great education tool to teach them about the biological processes. What you put in is magically transformed from last night's veggies for dinner to nutrient rich food for the garden.
The following materials are great for the compost heap:
- Fruit and vegetable peelings
- Salad scraps
- Coffee grounds
- Tea bags
- Soft prunings
- Old plants and flowers
- Small wooden prunings
- Weeds (no 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.
To discourage rats to burrow under the composter and go 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