Home Composting

1. Buy a suitable bin. You can buy a compost bin online at getcomposting.com or alternatively visit any hardware or garden centre.

2. Find the right site. Ideally you should put your bin in a reasonably sunny place on bare soil. Choose somewhere you can easily add ingredients to the bin and get the compost out.

3. Gather the right ingredients. Save everything from vegetable and fruit peelings to teabags, toilet roll tubes, cereal boxes and eggshells to go in your compost bin. 

Use our guides below to see exactly what you can put in your bin.

4. Fill it up. Place these items along with your garden waste into your compost bin. A 50/50 mix of browns and greens is the perfect recipe for good compost.

5. Wait a while. It takes between nine to twelve months for your compost to become ready for use. Keep on adding your greens and browns to top up the compost.

6. Check if it is ready. Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material, resembling thick, moist soil and gives off an earthy, fresh aroma, you know it's ready to use.

7. Remove the compost. Lift the bin slightly or open the hatch at the bottom and scoop out the fresh compost with a garden fork, spade or trowel.

8. Get spreading or give to other people for use. Don't worry if your compost looks a little lumpy with twigs and bits of eggshell, this is perfectly normal. Use it to enrich borders and vegetable patches, plant up patio containers, feed the lawn or give it out to others to spread the love.

For even more guidance visit www.recyclenow.com/how-to-recycle/home-composting