Tuesday 3 April 2012

C for composting

It wasn’t that long ago when I was gaily adding the odd bit of organic waste to my landfill bin believing that at least it would break down and be harmless. 

But not anymore because ....now I know that when waste is sent to landfill, air cannot get to the organic waste and as it breaks down it creates methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, which damages the atmosphere. It is thought that half of our waste still goes to landfill. If we composted all the suitable food waste produced by just UK households we could avoid the equivalent of 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

But look at what happens when you compost it .... oxygen helps the waste decompose aerobically and hardly any methane is produced. Not only does that help the planet but after twelve months you get free fertiliser for the garden. Win win!
cut away compost bin

And I particularly like the idea of a wormery which seems to add another virtuous layer [as it were] to this process if I am not mistaken, but I have wriggled out of that one so far...
Wormery guide

9 comments:

  1. I like the idea of a wormery, although haven't got around to doing anything about it yet. We have a compost heap in the garden and I dutifully trot out there with all my veg peelings, egg shells etc

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  2. Hi Susan, loving the daily blogs. love this about composting as I'm trying to do my bit for the environment. I have two compost bins, and am gradually filling them. I make sure all peelings, tea bags, garden waste etc go in. Am thinking about the wormery to speed things up.

    Sue

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  3. I like the eco-friendly themed challenge :)


    Participating in the A-Z Challenge 2012!

    English Speaking Zone

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  4. Composting is a great way to recycle kitchen an garden waste! I did a post on that not too long ago on my garden blog.

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  5. I can speak with authority on this subject. Mr A has three compost bins and a wormery. The compost bins are used in rotation so there's always one to pop the fresh stuff on, one that's composting down and one that's ready to spread over the garden. The stuff that comes out of this one is like fine well-tilled soil. It's an amazing transformation. It's magic.

    The wormery, on the other hand, is a constant worry to me. I bought it for Mr A's birthday two years ago. That was just before he went into hospital for a stem cell transplant and wasn't allowed near anything dirty. I got so upset over trying to look after the worms that Alex and her husband had to take the wormery away until he was well enough to look after them again.

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  6. I really need to make my own compost bin. I haven't set one up since we moved here.

    New follower here. I’m enjoying reading my fellow “A to Z”ers. I look forward to visiting again.

    Sylvia
    http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/

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  7. I composted with my third graders in our classroom a few years ago. Several of them tried it at home afterward. The worms LOVED it!

    Christi ツ
    Beach Dreams and Love Always

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  8. Susan you are a woman after my own heart! Great com-POST.
    Hop on over to my place for something that will interest you.
    dreamweaver

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  9. Good luck with the composting and the wormery! Thanks for doing your part with the environment.

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