Home composting

What is home composting and why is it a good thing to do?

Composting is nature's process of recycling food and garden waste into a valuable and nutrient rich food for your garden. By home composting you can:

  • Reduce your household and garden waste. This means less waste has to be transported and processed elsewhere – a win for the environment!
  • Save money. Once you’ve purchased your compost bin, there is nothing else you need to buy. You’ll then be continuously creating your own soil improver which could be ready in just 6-12 months, for free!
  • Improve your garden. Adding compost to your garden will enrich your soil with nutrients, improve the soil structure, reduce pests, and build resilience in your garden. Adding it as a mulch around plants can also help to suppress weeds, moderate soil temperature, and retain moisture.
  • Support wildlife. Composting at home creates a great environment for insects such as worms and beetles. They will work hard digesting your food and garden waste into valuable soil improver.
  • Get outside. Even a short trip outside to your compost bin is a great opportunity to get some fresh air!

 

How do I home compost?

Composting at home is quick to set up and the process is simple, but it's important to get the basics right.

  1. Get your compost bin. To help you get started, we offer subsidised compost bins to all Redbridge residents. Order yours today from the Get Composting website.
  2. Place your bin in a sunny spot in your garden, preferably on soil but it will work on paving or gravel. Position your bin in a convenient place for you – think about how far you’ll want to walk in the middle of winter!
  3. Start adding your kitchen and garden waste into the bin. Like any good recipe, you’ll need the right mixture of ingredients to make it work. A 50/50 mix of 'greens' and 'browns' is perfect. Take care not to compost cooked food, meat or fish.
    'Browns' you can compost 'Greens' you can compost Things you cannot compost
    Twigs Grass trimmings Any cooked food including fruit and vegetables
    Leaves Plant cuttings Meat and fat
    Shredded paper Weeds Bones
    Cardboard Fruit and vegetable peelings Fish
    Egg shells Tea bags and tea leaves Dairy such as cheese and milk
    Straw and hay Old flowers Dog poo
  4. Wait and let the nature do the work. It takes between six and twelve months for your compost to become ready for use. Keep adding greens and browns to top up your compost in the meantime.
  5. Once your compost has turned into a crumbly, dark material, resembling thick, moist soil and gives off an earthy, fresh aroma, you know it’s ready to be spread around your garden.

Free online composting training

As a Redbridge resident, you can complete free online composting training, provided by Garden Organic.

The course has five modules that you can select, from basics to in depth knowledge, including videos and quizzes. Each section lasts 10 to 20 minutes. You can just stick with the basics or go through everything if you wish – all at your own pace. You can come back to the course at any time, so it doesn’t have to be completed at once.

Sign up here.

Free in-person workshops

If an in-person workshop is more your thing you can invite the Our Streets team to deliver a free composting workshop to your group. This could be a community group, school, or group of friends or neighbours. We simply ask that you have between 10 and 15 participants ready and willing to learn. Get in touch with us to find out more.

 

Community Composting

If you live in a flat:

Some of our residents have already started a shared community composting project. It works the same way as if you live in a house with a garden, only, the residents have a shared bin in a communal green area. If you’d like to know more about this opportunity get in touch with us. If you'd like to set up your own community composting bin up, you can complete this expression of interest form.

Community composting in Redbridge parks:

In Autumn 2024 we launched two brand new community composting sites in Redbridge parks - to help residents reduce waste and carbon, and to create soil improver to be used within the parks.

The sites are accessible during park opening times and are particularly useful for those local to the parks, who are unable to compost at home due to lack of outside space.

Items that can be composted here include uncooked fruit and vegetables, peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper caddy liners, and unwrapped dead flowers. You can use a kitchen caddy or any similar receptacle (such as an empty ice cream tub) to store your food in at home, but please do not use compostable food bags to line your caddy or receptacle. If you would like to use a liner, please use brown paper bags, newspaper or thin carboard such as a cereal box, these items can all be deposited in the compost bin with your food waste. A list of accepted materials can be found at each site.