I have to say that I didn't see that one coming and it just goes to show that a lot of the things that we do to "help save the planet" can only be done from a position of stability and relative privilege. Interesting too, as an aside, that Tesco deliveries will now come fully bagged, rather than bagless.
Anyway, it is understandable and we should be grateful that they will continue to collect the black bin bag rubbish and the recycling for the time being. In addition, the tidy tips are closed and we have already been asked not to put out extra rubbish whilst we all undertake spring cleaning and extra tidying during our additional time at home so potentially dealing with rubbish has become a little trickier than we are used to.
So, what does this mean? It means that the food waste and the garden waste should now either be composted at home or put in the black sacks. Returning to dumping these things in landfill definitely feels like a backwards step but it will be necessary for some things. However, because we already have compost bins, for me it will thankfully be a relatively small amount that will have to be put in the black bag.
As such, I want explain how home composting works so that you can consider starting your own compost bin rather than putting that waste into black bags. If you have never done it before then it can be a little daunting but it is straightforward.
The first thing you will need is some kind of compost "bin" or heap. It can simply be a corner of your garden and doesn't need to have a physical structure but, for the sake of neatness, it is nice to have it contained. A three sided cube shaped structure works quite well, and you could construct something like this out of three old pallets or bits of old garden fence or shed, or anything else you have to hand. You can also buy purpose made compost bins, which tend to look a bit like a Dalek.
It is also handy to have some kind of collection lidded bucket or caddy in the kitchen or by the back door. You want something that is easy to access whilst you are preparing food. Use this to collect your food scraps. Fruit and vegetable peelings, teabags, used kitchen towel, coffee grounds and egg shells can all go into this caddy and when it is full you can take it to your garden compost bin.
With having used green bins for food waste collection, you will be familar with putting all food waste into that bin but not all food waste is suitable for the home compost bin. Do not put any meat, fish or bones into your home compost. Do not put in any cooked goods such as pasta, cereal, cakes and bread. All these sorts of things will attract rats if put in your home compost bin. Unfortunately, these types of food items will have to go into your black bin bags for the time being and be aware that even if inside your black bag, the smell of them can attract cats and foxes, who might rip the bags open and spill rubbish everywhere! So don't put your sacks outside until you absolutely have to in time for collection.
A lot of your gardening waste can go onto your compost heap too so you don't need to put that into black bags. This includes weeds you pulled up whilst weeding, grass cuttings and hedge clippings. When adding them to your compost bin, try to build it up in layers of mixed materials as a thick wodge of grass cuttings won't rot down as quickly as it might if mixed up with different types of vegetative matter.
It is not a good idea to put anything woody on your compost heap as this takes a lot longer to rot down than green waste. We have a separate pile for woody stuff, which we just leave to do its thing at a slower rate. If you have a chipping machine then that speeds up the process and you could even use the chippings as a covering on your pathways or flowerbeds. If not, then just leave you woody pile alone for the time being and it will either slowly break down or you can think about taking it to the tidy tip or putting in the green bins when these facilities become available again.
Over time, the contents of your compost bin will rot down, with the help of worms, slugs, woodlice and other minibeasts. You don't have to worry about finding these and adding them to the bin, they just find their own way there. As it rots, the pile gets smaller so you are able to keep adding more stuff to the same bin over and over. As the weather warms up, this happens quicker. And after about a year, the stuff at the bottom has broken down into a dark brown crumbly substance that you can use to add nutrients to your flower beds. It really is a wonderful process and it is so much better for your garden to directly benefit from your own waste than for it to go to landfill.
In addition to this, remember not to put any diseased vegetation into your compost bin. Home compost bins aren't really big enough to get hot enough to destroy disease causing pathogens so the diseases could potentially build up in your compost, making it unusable at a later date. I would also advise against adding potatoes or dandelion roots to the compost bin as these seem to survive the process and can spring up again as weeds if you use your homemade compost.
Other than that, running a compost bin at home is straightforward and it will benefit your garden, which is a whole heap better than sending unnecessary rubbish to landfill.
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