Read about the new food, cardboard and garden waste collection
East Riding of Yorkshire council encourages home composting and provides offers and advice to make it easy for residents.
Home composting provides nutrients for your plants and vegetables. You can start composting at any time of year but spring is a good time as it ties in nicely with the start of the gardening season.
Composting works faster in the warmer weather, so you will see the contents breaking down more rapidly with a spring start.
Before putting garden waste in your brown bin, you may wish to try some of the following suggestions, remember home composting saves you money and the environment.
Where do I find the council's home waste system offers?
The council has an agreement with Straight Plc to offer residents reduced price home composters, kitchen composters, kitchen caddies and wormeries.
All items are sold through Straight Recycling Plc. Prices are:
220 litre home composter £15.00 Buy one get one half price
330 litre home composter £18.00 Buy one get one half price
Composter base (optional) £8.50
A wormery or kitchen composter are smaller composting alternatives.
A kitchen composter is an air-tight container to which any food waste can be added, together with Bokashi, which is a bran-based material with naturally occurring micro-organisms. The contents can be dug into the ground or put into a traditional home composter after a few days.
A wormery is a self contained waste system that allows organic kitchen waste to be turned into compost using worms.
Kitchen composter twin pack (also known as Bokashi bin) £36.50
Replacement Bokashi bran (1kg) £7.00
Can-O-Worms Basic 45 litre £53.00
Can-O-Worms Wormery 70 litre £84.00
Plus £5.49 delivery charge per order.
The offers are available from 1st April 2011 until 31st March 2012 through Straight Recycling plc on (0845) 1306090 or visit www.eastriding.getcomposting.com to place an order or find further offers.
Build your own home composter
Alternatively, you can build your own simple compost bin using four pallets, four stakes and some gardening string or wire.
For information on how to make your own compost bin please see leaflet below
Building a composter
Tips for composting
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Put your compost bin on a level, well-drained spot. This allows excess water to drain out and makes it easier for creatures such as worms to get in and break down the contents
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Put your compost bin in a sunny place, this can help speed up the composting process
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The key to good compost relies on a mix of materials. A 50/50 of 'green' and 'brown' items ensures a properly balanced composter. If your compost is too wet add more browns, if it is too dry add some more greens.
'Greens' are quick to rot and give important nitrogen and moisture. Greens include: vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, coffee grounds, grass cuttings and plant remains.
'Browns' are slower to rot but provide fibre and carbon and allow air pockets to form in the mix. Browns include: garden prunings, pet bedding (vegetarian animals such as hamsters, gerbils, rabbits and guinea pigs), cardboard egg boxes, shredded/scrunched up paper, eggshells and fallen leaves.
What CAN I put in my home composter?
Household Waste Recycling Sites
Green waste can be disposed of at all ten household waste recycling sites in the East Riding of Yorkshire. This will be composted on a large scale using open windrows.
Find out where your local sites are.
Further information
For further information on what recycling facilities are available in your area
Find your local recycling facilities using the Recycle Finder.
Alternatively please email wastewatchers@eastriding.gov.uk or call the recycling team on (01482) 395586
Community composting
Community composting is the composting of biodegradable green waste by a number of residents from the local community at a local communal site.
A constituted community composting group which diverts household green waste from landfill will be given a payment per tonne of material collected, then an additional payment if they compost the material at their own site. This payment is known as a Community Composting Credit.
