This web site is designed to promote and encourage composting of organic household, garden, and food waste in the hope that we can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites, reduce the “waste miles” associated with kerbside collections and improve the quality of the environment and our garden soils.  Rod Weston is a member of the National Allotment Society and operates a Composting Demonstration site at Stokes Wood allotment in Leicester, He qualified as a Garden Organic/LCC  Master Composter in 2009 and  established Carry on Composting and this website at the same time to enable him to undertake  composting activities, training  and talks outside of the county and independent of the Master Composter role.The website has now had over 2 million visits.  He won the NWLDC  Families and Individial Green Footprints award in 2011 and the National Allottment  Society Jim Tandy award in 2022.

 The LLC Master Composter scheme has now been subsumed by the  Environment Action Volunteers to encourage positive behavioural change by offering practical support to community projects as well as providing advice to  motivate residents  to reduce their environmental impact.

 Please note this website does not sell any products.

Traditionally composting has been associated with gardens providing a useful way of disposing of garden  and organic household waste and most composters will have a garden and use  composting to  convert waste into a valuable soil improver.

But in recent years householders with small gardens and those  with only a courtyard or balcony  have shown an interest in composting their household waste as part of their wider environmental concerns and details of composting systems suitable for indoors, balconies and small gardens are included in this website.

 Research has shown  that almost half of the food waste in the average rubbish bin could have been composted.  Everyone, even apartment dwellers,   can do help  to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill or other more costly forms of treatment by composting food and garden waste at home.  Treatment of waste at source has much to recommend it as although councils offer green waste collections (often at a cost)  collection  involves transport and often landfill or in the case of food waste anaerobic digestion.

In order to cater for the needs those without gardens I have provided pages specifically covering composting on    Balconies & Patios (click to follow link),  Indoor composting  as well as other techniques that could be used by those with out of with very limited outdoor space e.g.  Bokashi Composting    and  Wormeries.

 Bokashi is also invaluable as a means of pre-treating cooked food waste so it can be composted  in a conventional compost bin or mixed with soil in a relatively small container and then be used to topup flower and patio pots. As such Boakashi  makes a useful addition to any environmentally concerned household.

 Before deciding whether a small garden can support outdoor composting using a  compost bin or wormery consider not just the size but whether  the site is subjected to extremes of temperature and moisture, as the micro-organisms and worms involved in the composting process do not like extreme temperatures. The bin or wormery should be in a shady position, be shaded with a trellis or it could be kept in a suitable garden storage box where the top and front opens.

Compost Bins

An earth base is best for compost bins placed directly on the ground, as it allows access by soil organisms and worms as well as easier drainage,  but a bin can be mounted on a hard base (slabs or decking) if necessary. There are small bins tumbler available that are mounted on legs.

Wormery

Wormeries are normally mounted off the ground  so are perhaps more suitable for patios and balconies, but they will still need protecting form the heat from the sun and frosts.

 Community Composting 

If all the above are unsuitable and you live in an apartment or block of flats, consider Community Composting  Community compost 2    Under such schemes  food waste  composting can be provided to the whole building.  

 I have also attempted to cover a wide range of composting methods and techniques as well as  composting related activities for schools and community groups.

 Also included is information relating to talks and training  that I  offer for composters, garden clubs,  allotment societies and community groups.

 Please visit our Home Compost Demonstration site at :

Stokes Wood Allotments, 2b Stokes Drive, Leicester, LE3 9BS for further details email carryoncomposting1@gmail.com

The site is open every Wednesday morning, on other occasions for composting related events  and by appointment. Informal on-site training is offered for home and allotment composters as well as more formal courses. On the Eaturday of  International Compost Awareness Week 2022  we are offering  a 1/2day Introduction to Composting session and on the Wednesday  one  of our more specialised composting techniques series on making   liquid feeds and  compost teas . Latering in the season we will be offer   sessions to equip composters to act as Allotment site Compost Mentors and manage community composting schemes on allotments.  Please email for details.

 Please feel free to make comments and submit your composting experiences and photos to carryoncomposting1@gmail.com

 Follow us on Facebook and keep up to date on changes and additions to this site. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carry-on-Composting

    Carry on Composting is listed  by Feedspot  as 5th  on their Top 40 Compost Blogs on the web. For more details on the regular publication of contents of a wide range of composting blogs go to  http://blog.feedspot.com/compost_blogs/

Copyright License

 Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. 

   This Carry on Composting website by Rodney Weston is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International      

This license grants permission for material on this site to be reused. It  requires that reusers give credit to the creator. (R Weston  www.carryoncomposting.com)  It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes.

Training, talks and advice on composting for gardening clubs, allotment societies,  schools etc.

  Rod Weston is  an enthusiastic composter. Before "downsizing " he had 5 compost bins (3 daleks, a Green Johanna, an Aerobin 400) and a Green Cone food digester together with four  wormeries (one an indoor model), a separate dog poo wormery at home  He also has a desk-top wormery and two Wiggo pods and Bokashi bins to illustrate talks and demonstrations. He won the NWLDC Green Footprints Award for Individuals and Families in 2011 and appeared in "Mr Bloom Out and About" in 2014 and CBBC Newsround in 2019. In addition to composting at home he was an allotment  composter and has served as Chairman of his local allotment society, as well as  East Midlands Regional Representative of the National Allotment Society

  He  now manages  a Composting Demonstration site at Stokes Wood allotment Leicester, with over 25 bins,  at which practical training and advice (free)  can be provided. 

He is a regular speaker at  Garden Clubs, and allotment societies etc. across the east midlands.

 Sessions are also offered to schools etc. These include Compost Creatures and making Rotbots. Over 1200 Rotbots (a compost bin in a bottle) were made in one weekend when Mr Blooms Big Day Out came to Leicester in 2013.

 There is no charge for talks and demonstrations although a  charge may be made to cover mileage. Brief details of standard talks are given below but talks can be designed to meet the specific needs of any group.

 Rod also has a stand that can be used to promote composting at fetes, open days, Company Eco days etc      Contact him at carryoncomposting1@gmail.com

 Examples of talks

 Home and Allotment  composting.

Types of composting: trenches, heaps, and bins, wormeries and bokashi systems. Locating the bin, home-made & commercially available bins. The composting process “greens” and “browns”. Harvesting and using compost.

Food waste  composting.

Composting of food waste. Advice on improving your green footprint by composting at home and work using composters suitable for: Schools, offices, residential homes, cafes, and restaurants. The session can include information on Bokashi bins, the Green Cone food digester, Green Johanna, Hotbins, Jora, Ridan and Rocket ranges of composters capable of dealing with from 6 to 400 litres of waste each week right up to 1750 litres.

 Compost Creatures

 A power point presentation showing the microorganisms and larger creatures involved in converting organic materials into compost. Plus, some of the animal visitors sometimes found in the compost bin. This can be offered for adults or as a simple "Identify the Animal” activity for children. A practical session on trapping compost bugs can be included.

 Wormeries

Introduction to vermiculture, home-made & commercially available wormeries. Dump and sort and stacking system and in ground systems suitable for raised beds. Worm wee liquid feed.

 Dog Poo Wormeries

 The use of wormeries to convert with dog poo into compost for the flower garden. Session includes safety precautions and information on wormeries for single digs and up to wheelie bin size.

 Compost, Comfrey, manure, and nettle teas.

 An introduction to making a range of liquid fertilizers including both conventional and aerated compost tea (ACT)

Compost game

Devised for children. Sort plastic vegetables,” cooked” food and other  materials by suitable waste disposal system e.g., conventional compost bin, wormery, food digester or for recycling or landfill. Can also be offered for adults as an Icebreaker using laminated cards at the start of other sessions.

  Garden accidents and  safety

A light-hearted  session for Garden Clubs linking Rods composting activities to his career as a H&S officer.

Gardens are places where people want to relax and perhaps that is why so many accidents happen in gardens. The session gives the chance to laugh  at hazards and accidents in the garden, including Bill and Bens Revenge, the 5,300 flowerpot related accidents, that are reported annually.

 We have  operated a  Home and small scale Community Composting Demonstration site in Leicestershire since 2011 to help promote composting to gardeners,  allotment plot holders and schools. Initially the site was at  Snibston Discovery Park, Coalville since the closure of the Discovery Centre has  operated different  venues but were unable to find a site with the enough space, a regular source of garden waste, a source of cooked food waste and a room that we could use for training and lectures, talks.   

We are now located at Stokes Wood Allotments,  2B Stokes Drive, Leicester  which enables us to provide a community composting service to members of  the  Allotment Society,  work with the National Allotment Society and provide a service to residents of both city and country councils. Please check out  Compost site photos

We welcome visitors on Wednesday mornings, when  refreshments and traditional breakfasts are available in the Allotment pavilion, for events and by appointment. Composting workshops talks and educational activities for  schools  can also be offered.

We hold  composting workshops and training sessions for new and experienced composters.  In addition to home composters, it is hoped to train Compost Mentors for Allotment sites.