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Home Composting

Home composting is an easy and effective way to deal with garden waste and food scraps from your kitchen. Bugs and microbes found naturally in the soil in your garden break down this waste to make compost.

Home Composting

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Aberdeen City Council's Waste Team gives advice and information on home composting.

Aberdeen City Council no longer has stocks of compost units. However, you can build your own compost heap, or compost units are readily available to buy online or at garden centres. We still have limited stocks of Green Cone Food Digesters, available at the discounted price of £10. Please call our Customer Contact Centre on 08456 08 09 19 for more information.

The compost unit and Green Cone digester work differently. Their suitability for a particular garden depends on a number of factors. A Green Cone digester would better suit people with small gardens, who produce mainly food waste. People with larger gardens would benefit from a home compost unit. If you need to dispose of a range of food types or have pets, then a Green Cone digester would complement a compost unit.

The table below will help you decide what is best for you:

The type of waste you want to compost Green Cone Digester Compost Unit
Meat scraps Yes No
Vegetable scraps  Yes Yes
Fruit Yes Yes
Pet waste Yes No
Leaves little Yes
Grass little Yes
Dairy products Yes No
Bread Yes No
Woody materials No Yes
Paper  No Yes
Amount of waste                                       Green Cone Digester  Compost Unit 
Large batches  No Yes
Small batches  Yes Yes
Other Requirements                                             Green Cone Digester        Compost Unit     
Air-turning No  Yes 
Water Yes  Yes
Materials Yes  Yes
End product   
Compost No       Yes
Liquid feed*  Yes No

*Enters the soil under the digester.

Step by Step Guide to using a Composting Unit

Step 1

Find a suitable location in the garden and place the bin sitting on soil. For the best results chose a sunny spot.

Step 2

Place a thin layer of woody material or shredded paper in the base of the compost bin. This will help with drainage and allow better movement of air.

Step 3

Add some organic waste to the bin, spread the material evenly adding both kitchen and woody material to create a balanced mixture.

Step 4

When the container is full, either leave until composting has been completed or, for better results, empty the contents, mix the material well and refill the bin.

Step 5

Once the contents have formed a dark brown, earthy smelling material the process is complete. The compost can then be used on the garden.

What material can be composted?

Normal ingredients

  • Old flowers
  • Tea bags
  • Coffee grounds
  • Bedding plants
  • Old straw and hay
  • Fruit & vegetable scraps
  • Young hedge clippings
  • Young hedge clippings
  • Perennial weeds
  • Hamster & rabbit bedding

Fast reactors

  • Comfrey leaves
  • Young weeds
  • Grass cuttings

Slow burners

  • Autumn leaves
  • Hedge clippings
  • Woody prunings
  • Sawdust
  • Wood shavings

Other items

  • Wood ash
  • Cardboard
  • Paper towels
  • Paper bags
  • Cardboard tubes
  • Cardboard egg boxes

What material should NOT be composted?

  • Cat litter
  • Meat, fat or bones (this can be put in a green cone digester)
  • Batteries
  • Coal ash
  • Fish (this can be put in a green cone digester)
  • Metal
  • Dog faeces
  • Cooked food (this can be put in a green cone digester)
  • Plastics
  • Disposable nappies
  • Rubber
  • Textiles

Note: It is probably better to recycle newspaper and glossy paper in your kerbside collection or at your local Recycling Point.

Further information

  • It can take as little as a few weeks to make compost but on average allow 6 to 12 months.
  • Composting can produce a good quality product and makes an excellent peat substitute.
  • If you have a lot of grass leave it outside to dry for a couple of days before adding it to the compost bin.
  • If you feel composting is too slow, turn the mixture to add air to the mix. If the compost is dry add some water.
  • You could also add a spade of topsoil.
  • If the mixture becomes smelly there is too much green material in the compost unit. Try adding some dried grass or woody material and mix well.
  • Small flies seen in and around your compost unit are harmless fruit flies which are helping to break down your waste.

What to do if you cannot home compost but still wish to recycle your green waste

The Council's Recycling Centres have special skips for the collection of garden waste. Some areas of Aberdeen also offer a kerbside collection of garden waste in brown wheeled bins.

Contact

Back to the Household Waste home page.