IN VIDEO: Get composting – top tips for composting in your own garden

Local organisation, Compost Works, provide top tips on how to set up a compost heap in your garden by placing your bin in the right place and having the right balance of materials.

With approximately one third of our household waste being from food, composting is a great positive change to make for the environment. 

Compost Works have worked with other organisations in Wirral to set up five community composting sites across the borough – these are located at Make Hamilton, St James Church, New Brighton, Christ Church in Higher Bebington and in Woodchurch and Conway Street in Birkenhead. The community compost sites enable local residents signed up to the scheme, to dispose of their food waste and create nutrient rich compost for use in the local area. 

For more information about community composting, or to start using the composts at Make Hamilton, New Brighton, Higher Bebington or Birkenhead, email info@compostworks.co.uk

To set up a compost heap in your own garden, Minna, Chief Executive and Founder of Compost Works, provides her top tips.  

Use the right bin

You can build your own wooden compost bin or buy a ‘Dalek’ style one from the council for a discounted price of £25. To find out more, visit the council’s website. 

Keep food waste in small pieces

The smaller any items are, that you add to the compost bin, the quicker they will break down. Root vegetables, melons, onions and food items that are tough will take a longer time to break down so help speed up the process by chopping them as small as possible before adding them to your compost. 

Aim for 50/50 of green to brown material 

Food waste is your ‘green’ material, and this should make up half of the ingredients in your compost bin. The other half should be made up of ‘brown’ material, which could be wood chip, shredded paper or carboard, to help balance out the food and fresh material. 

Turn it 

Make sure to turn your compost heap regularly to make sure that all the ‘green’ and ‘brown’ material is combined. This will help to aerate the compost and stop it from getting compacted and smelly. 

If you have a Dalek style compost bin, an aerator stick can be added to your bin and help with this. 

Put your bin in the right place

Put your compost bin in a shaded spot – no need to put it in your best growing spot (save that for any plants or veggies you want to grow) or where you like to sit as the compost bin does not need any sunlight and works best in the corner of your garden somewhere. 

If you would like to take action and make changes for the benefit of the environment, why not take part in the latest monthly climate challenges. You can find out more about the challenge and how to take part by visit the council’s website. Tell us all the things that you’ve been up and you could be in with a chance of winning a Wirral Spend Independent card.