A  session on composting for the AGM  of this allotment site with 60 members. Allotment Society AGMs provide an excellant means of spreading the composting message and most allotment composters will also have a bin (or two) at home

Giving a talk on home composting to a carers group at Bagworth  on the 2nd of March. Carers are considerably undervalued and it is good to be able to help out on some of their meetings

We have moved the first bins to the University of Leicester Botanic Garden and hav e drafted the application for an Exemption for Composting, wormeries and spreading the compost on the garden.

Now need to dig the whole site to locate the bins

We have started moving the Composting Demonstration site from Snibston Discovery Park in Coalville to the University of Leicester Botanic Garden. It is hoped that the official opening will be in Compost Awareness Week but that we will be ready for the public well in advance of May.

I will post photos as we prepare the site

Now that Christmas day and Boxing Day are behind us hopefully with very little waste for disposal other than vegetables peelings, which should now be residing in the snow covered compost bins and wormeries, we can start planning for the remnants of your New Year’s Eve party. If it is a buffet style, it may produce more leftovers for composting.  In addition to the peelings from your vegetables, Christmas fruits such as Satsumas and Clementines can be added to the compost bin but not to the wormery.  In addition to food, waste wooden cocktail sticks can also be composted, as can nut shells (these will take a longish time). Ripped up cardboard cracker “tubes” can be added to the normal egg boxes and toilet rolls tubes that provide a carbon source and a means of holding air in the compost. Plain wrapping paper (non metallic/plastic) and gift tags can be scrunched up from Christmas toys and gifts will add fibre and structure to your bin, as will paper napkins Wood ash from open fires or stoves  can added to the bin  once it has cooled down but do not add to much.

A few years ago my suggestion of compost bins and food digesters (for the cook in your like) as Christmas presents received a few adverse comments. Please note a Green Cone will not work if located where the “sun don`t shine”.  However, they would make good New Year presents to go with the resolution to compost more. Why not try an indoor wormery for the winter months and check out the Winter Composting section web page.