East Suffolk Council
Home composting
Home composting is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with some types of green waste as it enables the waste to be dealt with at source without the need for transport or processing.
It's surprisingly easy to make your own compost. You don't need any sophisticated or expensive equipment.
Compost bins
You can find a variety of different compost bins sold by a wide range of retailers, such as garden centres, allowing you to select the right size for your garden. Alternatively you could make your own container.
Wormeries
If you are a flat-dweller or have a very small garden, and want to recycle your kitchen scraps the answer might be a worm-bin. A wormery can be kept inside or out, on a balcony, in a garage or shed or under your sink!
Special offer on compost bins
Reduced price compost bins are on offer to Suffolk residents through the Suffolk Waste Partnership.
A range of composting accessories, wormeries and plastic water butts is also available.
The benefits of home composting
Composting your garden waste and fruit and vegetable scraps at home is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with this sort of waste, and is preferable to other methods for the following reasons:
- If organic waste is sent to landfill, it contributes to the production of greenhouse gases such as methane which lead to climate change, in addition to the emissions caused by collecting it and transporting it there.
- If organic waste is burnt on bonfires, the smoke it produces pollutes the air and can be a nuisance to neighbours.
- If organic waste is treated properly at a central composting facility, it still needs to be collected and transported.
Producing your own compost at home has other benefits. It provides a free compost you can use on the garden and so reduces the need to buy peat products.
Peat bogs are fragile wildlife habitats and many have been destroyed in order to meet the demand for peat products. Peat and compost products for sale often come pre-packaged, contributing to more waste.
Also, if you make your own compost, you know exactly what has gone into it.
More advice about composting at home is available on the RecycleNow website.
Excess garden waste that you can't manage at home can also be taken to a household waste recycling centre.