Composting: Benefits and Accessories

Composting: Benefits and Accessories

Composting is a brilliant way of reducing waste as a household, as well as being an excellent to reduce your contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Composting does not have to be a stressful or daunting task, it can actually be very enjoyable and fulfilling when you get going. In essence, composting is organic matter that has been decayed. Many items can fall under the purview of organic matter, including food waste such as banana peels. Once these have been broken down, they will transform into a natural fertiliser that you can place in your garden.

What can I compost?

Depending on where you compost, whether indoors or outdoors, there are a variety of different items that you can compost into a natural fertiliser.

Outdoor items: leaves, grass, manure or bush trimmings.

Indoor items: fruit, vegetables, peelings, wine, herbs and spices, pet bedding, nut shells, coffee, eggshells, paper or cardboard.

Environmental Impacts?

A key benefit of composting is that you will be reducing the amount of waste that you are sending to landfill sites; with each site emitting large amounts of dangerous emissions into the atmosphere. A key gas emitted is methane, so by composting your household waste you will be counteracting the amount of gas emitted from landfill sites. Also, composting reduces the need for chemical fertilisers that you might require in your garden; chemical fertilisers can be damaging and unnatural. The compost itself acts as a fertiliser, so there is no need for chemical intervention.

Further Benefits

Composting facilities bigger crop yields which enables food to produce a better harvest. Compost enriches the your soil, which will help the soil to retain moisture while suppressing plant diseases. Also, it will reduce the chances of pests developing and visiting your garden. It also reduces that amount of water that is needed as the fertiliser from compost is strong enough to facilitate a strong growth of plants, fruit or vegetables. Composting will enable the development of humus; this is where beneficial bacteria and fungi break down. Humus is a natural and nutrient rich material. Compost will help to maintain the pH balance of your plants and supplying everything they need, including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

Outdoor Composting

It is important to determine what composter is right for you. Some larger composters will need to go outdoors into larger outdoor areas. The tumbling composter contains rods that mixes and breaks up larger pieces of matter to provide aeration and quicken the composting process. Inside the composter, temperatures can reach as high as 60 degrees Celsius. A benefit of this composter is that it can been built in 20-30 minutes and is extremely easy to use. The tumbling composter can either come with 1 cell of 105L or 2 cells of 70L. The much larger thermo-star composter is 600L and it will create the perfect climate for accelerated composting. It has thermo walls and ventilation while being quick and easy to assemble.

Indoor Composting

The compost caddy is perfect for anyone who would like to store kitchen waste. Coming with replacement filters, the caddy will store all the food that you need to help achieve your composting goals. Bokashi bins are also the new and alternative way of composting. Coming in a size of 15L, the Bokashi is an odourless bin that will help you transform all your composting needs. The worm farm is also a stylish way to compost kitchen waste. Its modern design is made up of composting layers where earthworms help create vermicompost leading to a container where the worm tea collects.

Compost Accessories

Natural compost accelerator is an ideal solution for quickening the composting process. Its blend of bacteria will turn your waste into compost quicker. All you have to do is mix the solution with water and place into your compost. The bottle will have enough to fill the equivalent of 8 wheelie bins! Also, a compost aerator makes turning compost much easier and is ideal for improved fertiliser production. The aerator will create pockets in the compost heap and encourage pockets to open inside the compost.