OH! Magazine - Australian Version June 2018 | Page 21

( FOCUS ON FAMILY )
TOP TIPS TO REDUCE
YOUR WASTE
Iain Porterfield explores composting as a way to decrease waste.
community gardens or schools take
waste donations to add to their
compost piles. So even if you don’t
have the ability to make your own
compost bin, you can still reduce
your waste and contribute to a local
community project. Check out the
ShareWaste app to see who in your
local area is collecting scraps.
ome composting is a great method
of reducing your family’s waste.
Even if you only have a small garden or
balcony, there are lots of ways you can go
about composting. Choosing the right
compost method for your home is
important, so here are a few options:
H
•
•
•
•
•
For larger gardens or households, a
large bin (or even an open compost
pile) are a great way to produce large
quantities of rich and fertile compost.
For smaller gardens a compost
tumbler is a fantastic option. This is a
barrel on a stand, which can literally
be spun (or ‘tumbled’) using a handle,
which ensures the compost is mixed
evenly, allowing it to break down
faster.
Where outdoor space is very limited a
worm farm is great. This is a unit
specifically designed to house live
worms. You simply put your scraps in,
and the worms help to break them
down quickly, creating a liquid
compost.
Even if you have no outdoor space at
all, there are still great indoor options.
You can get a bokashi bin, which is
designed specifically for indoor use –
it uses beneficial bacteria to ferment
kitchen waste in two to four weeks. It
is recommended that you have two
bins, so that you can rotate them –
filling one up with new scraps, whilst
leaving the full one to ferment.
Bokashi bins produce a potent liquid
compost, which is great for your
home-grown veggies.
There are also community compost
schemes, where local residents,
Once you have a compost system in place,
you then need to ensure your garden
compost works effectively. Here’s how.
•
•
•
It’s a great idea to have a small
compost bin or “caddy” in your
kitchen, for easy disposal, which can
then be emptied regularly into a
bigger bin outside. Ensure your caddy
has air circulation to avoid rot and
reduce smells. Cover the air holes
with gauze or netting to avoid flies
getting into it.
In your main compost bin, make sure
you use a good mixture of green waste
and brown waste (ideally 50/50).
Green waste is ‘wet’ waste, which
includes vegetable and fruit scraps,
grass and plant clippings, coffee
grounds and paper filters, and tea
leaves. Brown waste is ‘dry’ waste,
which includes dry leaves, wood
chips and sawdust, shredded paper
and cardboard, eggshells, nut shells,
hair and animal fur.
Avoid adding meat products (off-
cuts, fat, bones), greasy or oily foods,
dairy products, pet waste, or any
items that are not fully biodegradable,
such as face/surface wipes, teabags
(which usually contain plastic), and
any ‘degradable’ plastics (because
these do not break down fully; they
only break into smaller pieces of
plastic).
• Make sure your compost gets plenty
of air as this creates the aerobic
reaction, which causes the materials
to break down into compost. If you’re
creating your own compost bin,
ensure you drill air holes and stick
gauze over the holes.
• When adding lots of green waste to
your bin (such a veggie scraps), it’s
always a good idea to add a thin layer
of brown waste over the top. This will
reduce flies and will prevent smells
escaping.
• It’s a great idea to mix or turn the
materials regularly whilst they’re
breaking down. This will help the
compost to break down quicker, and
will ensure a good distribution of
green and brown matter throughout
the mix.
• Your compost should be moist but
not wet. If it’s too wet, add some
sawdust or other dry materials. If it
looks too dry, add a bit of water and
mix it up.
Finished compost should look, feel and
smell like a rich dark soil. Once it is fully
broken down, you should no longer be
able to see any of the separate items that
were originally added to the mix. The
compost can added to your potting mix
when planting, can be sprinkled on your
garden beds as a mulch, or can be mixed
through the existing soil to improve its
condition.
Iain Porterfield is the co-owner of Pop-Up
Gardens (www.popupgardens.com.au).
OH! MAGAZINE ( JUNE 2018 )
21