It’s International Compost Awareness Week

The International Compost Awareness Week is 2 – 8 May 2021. It's a super exciting week where we will share some of our best composting tips via social media in the hopes that you’ll be inspired to make your own compost bin and enjoy transforming your food scraps into organic compost.

There are so many reasons that home composting just makes sense! For starters…

🌱 It's easy to start a compost bin
🌱 100% natural solution
🌱 Enriches your soil with nutrients and beneficial microbes
🌱 Helps you grow healthier plants
🌱 Perfect for your flower or veggie garden

Getting started with home composting may be easier than you think.

🌱 Buy or make a compost bin (skip this step if you prefer a compost heap)
🌱 Place on a level, well-drained spot
🌱 Sun exposure speeds up the composting process
🌱 Add your food scraps and let the worms do the work

Visit our Simple Guide to Backyard Composting blog for more detailed instructions.

If you like the idea of composting but don’t have the space in your yard for a home compost pile, or perhaps just don’t have the time or patience, then consider the idea of sharing your waste. See our previous blog to get some insight about how this could work for you.

Organic waste that your compost bin easily breaks down...

✔️ Food scraps such as eggshells, banana skins, and potato peels
✔️ Coffee grounds
✔️ Organic garden waste such as leaves and grass clippings
✔️ Newspaper, printer paper and cardboard (chop it up to help the process along!)

As a side note - did you know that our bin liners, resealable lunch and snack bags, and cling wrap are 100% home compostable too? These will happily break down in your home compost. Shop our compostable product range.

There are a few things you want to avoid adding to your compost bin...

🚫 Meat, fat, and bones (they'll attract rodents!)
🚫 Butter, oil and dairy products
🚫 Pest or disease infected garden waste
🚫 Bulk lemons (too much citrus can kill your worms)
🚫 Pulled weeds (their seeds can last a long time and repopulate in your garden)
🚫 Pet waste (horse manure is wonderful but dog poop wants its own compost bin - one that's not destined for an edible garden)

Tip: If you want to keep your wheelie bin from getting sluggy and smelly from these types of organic waste – that aren’t destined for your compost – keep some caddy liners handy to wrap before disposal.

We hope you get as much out of International Compost Awareness Week as we do. It’s a great reminder that there are always more small steps we can each take to live more lightly.

We are always excited to see how you are going with your home composting projects. Please feel free to tag us in your social media posts or flick us a message!

For further information please visit:

The Compost Research & Education Foundation: https://www.compostfoundation.org/ICAW/ICAW-Home

International Compost Week Australia: https://www.compostweek.com.au/background/

The Compost Collective (Auckland): https://compostcollective.org.nz/

Love Food Hate Waste: https://lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/composting-101/