Out and about - Fairtrade for Bassetlaw spreads the word

www.bassetlaw.gov.uk 3Waste not, want notwith home compostingDo you like getting something for nothing? Bycomposting your kitchen and garden wasteyou can make your own fertiliser for thegarden instead of buying it.If you do not yet have a compost bin now is a great timeto get one as the price has dropped since last year, a black220 litre Compost Converter now costs only £14 plus £5delivery. You may also like to take advantage of the buyone get one half price special offer.Composting is a natural way of recycling, harnessingnatural processes rather than machinery and man-madechemicals. When you put your kitchen and garden wasteinto a compost bin it uses oxygen to help the wastedecompose naturally and no methane is produced, whichis good news for the planet.Putting kitchen or garden waste into an ordinary binmeans that it gets taken to a landfill site and is buriedalongside all kinds of rubbish and air cannot get to thewaste. Without oxygen the waste decomposes and inthe process creates methane, which is a harmful gas thatdamages the Earth’s atmosphere.If you want to save money and improve yourenvironment please order your home composter binonline visit www.bassetlaw.getcomposting.com or call0844 571 4444 for more details.Environment Services Officer Janette Walker showsoff the bigger and smaller compostersOh yes you can...The following items can all be composted and aresplit into two sections. Greens which are quick to rotand browns that rot more slowly to provide fibre andcarbon, which is important for creating air pocketswithin the mixture.Greens include tea bags, grass cuttings, vegetablepeelings, salad leaves and fruit scraps, old flowers andnettles, coffee grounds and filter paper, spent beddingplants, rhubarb leaves and young annual weeds.Browns are crushed egg shells, egg and cerealboxes, corrugated cardboard and paper (scrunchedup), toilet and kitchen roll tubes, garden prunings,twigs and hedge clippings, straw and hay, beddingfrom vegetarian pets, ashes from wood, paper andlumpwood charcoal, sawdust and wood chippings,wool, woody clippings, cotton threads and string(made from natural fibre), feathers, vacuum bagcontents, old natural fibre clothes (cut into smallpieces), tissues, paper towels and napkins, shreddedconfidential documents, corn cobs and stalks.Oh no you can’t…Don’t compost cooked vegetables, meat and dairyproducts (unless they have first been treated with aspecialist Kitchen Composvegeter), diseased plants,dog mess, cat litter or baby’s nappies, perennialweeds such as dandelions and thistles or weeds thathave seed head and avoid plastics, glass and metals.The perfect compost recipe1 Place your compost bin in an easily accessible fairlysunny site on bare soil or if on concrete put a layer ofpaper and twigs at the bottom.2 Add the ingredients, vegetable and fruit peelingsto teabags, toilet roll tubes, cereal boxesand eggshells.3 Fill up the compost bin with kitchen and gardenwaste. Make sure you have a nice mixture of greenand brown waste (refer to our shopping list)4 Pop it into the compost bin, wait nine to twelvemonths before using. During this time keep topping itup with green and brown waste.5 When it’s crumbly, dark, thick and moist and smellsearthy, it’s ready. Take a shovel full or two and sprinklegenerously on your borders, vegetable patches, patiocontainers and lawns.