Composting: Your New Year’s Resolution?
Happy New Year! How many of your resolutions have you broken already? We’ve broken one or two! But we think we may have one that we can all stick to for the rest of the year and beyond: composting.
As we continue to look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, we look to food waste for ways to do it, and we think that composting is a fantastic way of turning what might be seen as waste into a material that can help out the planet.
Composting has such a long history; ancient Scots used to plant crops in piles of rotting manure as far back as 5000 BC! Around the same time, indigenous populations all over the world were developing their own methods of composting, utilising fish and fish waste, to improve the quality of their soil and ultimately the growth of their crops. Since then, skills and knowledge have been passed through the generations, becoming more effective as the years passed.
So what is composting and what does it do? Composting is a process that speeds up the natural decay of organic material, such as vegetable scraps, by providing the perfect conditions for detritus-eating organisms to thrive. By the end of the process, we are left with a nutrient-rich soil that helps crops, plants and trees to grow.
Compost makes a fantastic top soil, which absorbs carbon from the atmosphere and helps to cool the planet. So the process of taking our food scraps away from landfill (this is where it goes if we just throw it in the bin), and making our own little compost heap not only helps our gardens to be more abundant but actually helps the environment too!
Approximately 60% of all household waste in the UK is thought to be compostable but lots of this ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes greatly to global warming.
Some things that you can add to your compost heap that you might not have thought of include: grass cuttings, eggshells, cardboard egg boxes, fallen leaves, scrunched up paper, and coffee grounds.
With a garden it’s super easy to set up your own compost heap, you’ll just need a compost bin and to follow a few basic rules so that your compost doesn’t get too warm. Conveniently, Hartlepool Borough Council offers discounted composting products from this website, you’ll just need to input your postcode. For the basic rules of composting, take a look here.
If you don’t have an outside space then composting can be a little bit more difficult but it is still very possible! Here is a great guide on how to start your composting journey if you’re in a flat or are unable to access a garden.
When we all do our best to divert our food waste from our waste bins to our compost bins, we’ll be doing our bit to help cool the planet and to have healthier soil in our gardens so that we can grow tasty fruit and veg!
