Derry City Council

Home Composting

What is home composting?

Home composting is simple, cheap and can be undertaken in a compost container or heap in your own garden. Home composting is natures' way of recycling organic material such as kitchen scraps and garden waste into a dark, crumbly soil conditioner. Approximately 25% of our household waste can be composted.

Why make a compost heap?

To improve your garden
- by digging into the soil to improve soil texture and nutritional quality
- Using as mulch around plants to help retain moisture and discourage weeds

To save money
- by buying less peat and fertilisers
- by helping reduce disposal costs for waste

To help the environment and biodiversity
- by cutting global pollution through reducing the amount of methane gas produced from landfill sites
- by protecting peat bogs which are destroyed to make potting compost
- by encouraging worms and keeping the birds happy

What can you put in a compost bin?

Yes!	No!

Vegetable Peelings / Egg Shells	Cooked Vegetables / Bread / Meat Scraps / Bones
Fruit Scraps	Materials Infected with Persistant Diseases e.g. Potato Blight
Tea Bags/leaves and Coffee Grounds	Pernicious Weeds e.g. Bind Weed / Weeds with Seed heads
Grass Cuttings	Large Unchopped Woody Branches
Finely Chopped or Shredded Shrub Prunnings	Cat or Dog Litter
Most Garden Weeds
Straw and Hay

Trouble Shooting Tips!

Problem	Cause	Solution

Nasty Smells!	Compost too wet Too many grass cuttings	Leave lid off in dry weather Remove some grass cuttings
Slow Decay	Not enough heat Too dry - needs activator Lack of air	Position in sunlight keep lid on Moisten and mix in soft material Poor mix so fork through / add new material into the loose layers
Vermin	Meat and fats have been added	Remove any unsuitable material

If you have any queries about composting contact the Waste Management Section of Derry City Council at the following address:

Derry City Council
City Engineer's Department
98 Strand Road
Derry BT48 7NN
Tel: 028 7136 8550
Email: recycle@derrycity.gov.uk