address this issue that Garden Organic started its Master Composter scheme – based on the US model. Garden Organic’s Master Composters are volunteers who spend time promoting home composting in their local community, encouraging householders to take up composting and ensuring those already composting continue to do so effectively. Master Composters come from many backgrounds and age groups; their unifying feature is their enthusiasm for encouraging more environmentally friendly waste management practices. Volunteers, after the necessary training, work in their community to promote composting and to give help and advice to individuals, communities and schools.
FROM PIGS TO WORMS
The lifestyle and living conditions of the new generations being encouraged to make compost meant that composting methods needed an update. The traditional advice – to make a large compost heap, carefully constructed over a short period of time, that heated up to steaming temperatures and was turned regularly – was no longer appropriate for the majority wanting to use composting as a means of waste management. Fortunately, composting still works very well in smaller, neat-looking compost bins that are filled on an ad hoc basis and otherwise ignored.
The Centre for Alternative Technology took a fresh look at what could be composted from the waste items produced by modern households. This turned out to be kitchen waste and lots of low-grade cardboard and paper. This led to the development of the high-fiber heap using just these items. Adding egg boxes, cardboard cartons, and so on to a compost bin is now common practice.
The move to vegetable-based printing inks removed the concern over contamination from cadmium and other heavy metals traditionally used in printing.
In the past, many households would have kept a pig in the back yard to convert food scraps into manure and useful meat. The modern equivalent, but without the smell, is worm composting. Worms for fishing bait are raised on compostable waste. As you don’t need a garden to make worm compost, it extends the scope of composting considerably.
DANGERS?
There were rumors that home composting, that most innocuous of pastimes, might have its dangers. This came out of the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic in the UK, which cost the country millions. It relates to the composting of food waste from domestic kitchens. The fear was that unless the disposal of this waste was strictly controlled, foot-and-mouth disease would continue to spread.
Fortunately, home composting is still quite legal and generally safe. It is fine to make compost on the premises where it originates, and to use the compost on the land at those premises, as long as pigs or ruminants (cattle, goats and sheep) are not kept there. If there is poultry on the premises, composting may be done, but it must be done in a closed container.
FULL CIRCLE
The recent revival of interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home and in allotments, now with many more people using organic methods, takes us full circle. Homemade compost is just what the garden needs to grow healthy, productive crops, in a sustainable way.
Growing your own fruit and vegetables is made easier and more sustainable if you make your own valuable compost.
Composting is something that humankind has been doing for centuries, but in this day and age, why should we as individuals bother? We now know that typically over 40 percent of household waste can be composted, but why not leave it for local authorities to deal with? Does home composting really solve any problems? Can something as simple as composting kitchen and garden waste help mitigate the effects of climate change? Can it benefit you or your children? If you are not interested in gardening or only have a balcony or tiny backyard, is it worth the trouble? The answer to all those questions is “yes.” Read on to find out the many reasons why home composting is a worthwhile and beneficial practice.
BENEFITS TO YOU
Turning waste into something of value, rather than just passing it on to someone else to deal with, is very empowering. Taking responsibility means that you are reducing the impact of the waste you produce on the wider community and environment.
These days there are so many large environmental issues such as climate change that seem too big for an individual to do anything about, but composting is something that we can all do. Composting can help the average household cut the amount of waste it puts in the bin (or recycling box) by 40 percent – a considerable figure. The small task of starting to home compost means that you will be helping to work towards a sustainable future.
ORGANIC GARDENING
If you have a garden and aim to manage it organically, then making compost is essential. Home composting plays a key role in organic growing – compost helps keep plants healthy and can make it easier to avoid the use of pesticides.
SAVING MONEY AND TIME
Making compost, leaf mold and mulches reduces the amount of money you spend on buying fertilizers, soil conditioner and potting composts. Using these home-produced products reduces the need for watering – a valuable time-saver and cost-cutter if your water is on a meter.
Millions of tons of food are thrown away every year after purchase – this is good food that doesn’t actually get to the table but is thrown away before being prepared or eaten. Collecting food waste to compost helps to make you aware of how much food your household is wasting and may concentrate your mind when it comes to shopping. This new awareness may not help your compost heap, but it could be good for your budget!
Adding homemade compost to your plants is environmentally responsible and reduces the need for water and fertilizer.
Reducing the volume of waste that your public works needs to collect and recycle may also help cut its costs, which can only be good for taxes. Reducing the amount of trash that we dispose of is not only desirable, it is becoming increasingly necessary as we run out of suitable landfill sites and require greater capacity to burn waste for energy.
SLIM YOUR BIN
Home composting can cut the speed at which your garbage can fills up, and reduce the risk of unpleasant odors from the bin. With cuts in the frequency of garbage collection in many areas, this can be an important issue.
SLIM YOURSELF
Composting could keep you fitter and healthier. A bit far fetched you may think? None of the jobs connected with making compost are particularly strenuous, however, every little bit adds up. Think of the daily stroll to and from the compost bin, turning the heap (if that’s the method you decide upon), harvesting the finished compost and, finally, spreading it on the garden. In addition to this, being outside, either making or using your compost, will help give you the “feel-good
