Many items can be effectively recycled at home – food waste, dried leaves, grass cuttings – by creating your own compost, which can then by used in your garden, on your allotment or for potting plants around the home.  

Why compost?

It’s good for your garden – it provides it with nutrient rich food.

It’s good for the environment – home-made compost is natural and peat-free

It’s good for your pocket – it reduces the need for you to buy peat products for your garden.

What do you need to do?

1. Find the right site – your bin or on bare soil are ideal.
2. Add the right ingredients – vegetable peelings, dried leaves are just some of them
3. Fill it up!
4. Wait a while – check its progress. After 9-12 months, the ingredients should have turned into a crumbly dark brown.
5. Collect the compost – lift the bin off the compost or open the hatch at the bottom and scoop out the fresh compost. If you have built your own, rake it out.
6. Use it and watch your garden bloom.

If this interests you, then why not rethink your rubbish and get composting. Surrey Waste Partnership is offering subsidised compost bins (available from £15). Visit the Surrey Waste Partnership website or call 0844 571 4444 and start composting today! You can also find helpful tips about what can and can’t go into your compost.