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Tag: food waste

Top 10 tips for composting in schools

Posted on by Julie Halford

Composting is a fantastic opportunity for communities to get together to create a greener environment.

Nowhere is this more valuable than in schools, where children can be taught skills that will last them a lifetime.

Composting enables people to take responsibility for their own waste and deal with it in the most environmentally-friendly way – onsite where it is produced – reducing the energy and cost required to transport it further afield for treatment.

 When people compost they become aware of how much waste they produce; as a result they tend to waste less and recycle more.

What is composting?

Composting is the natural process that occurs when insects, worms and micro-organisms break down organic waste (food scraps, garden waste, paper waste) into a nutritious substance – compost – that can be used to feed soil and plants.

By managing the composting process, we help the micro-organisms to thrive and produce compost faster.    

What are the benefits of composting?

Composting is one of the most worthwhile things you can learn. There are only a few rules, and you only have to learn them once – the laws of nature don’t change. This knowledge will serve you well through life.

Composting:

 * creates free nutrient-rich soil food for your own use

* retains moisture in the soil, so reduces the need for watering

* helps plants to grow stronger and healthier

* cuts the amount of waste sent to landfill or incineration

* reduces your carbon footprint

* has a positive impact on the environment

*  inspires children to become composters of the future

How to make it work

Compost bins are not ordinary bins; some degree of management is needed and there are a few golden rules to follow.

Experience has taught us to give composting communities the following advice:

  • At least one person/member of staff should have overall responsibility and check in on the composter every couple of days to prevent issues developing.
  • Ensure as many people as possible have access to an instruction manual so they get to know the three golden rules: the balance needed between materials; aeration; moisture levels.
  • In a school, composting should ideally be a whole-school project. For example, a lot of carbon-rich materials will be needed and it’s much easier if this can be stored in lidded containers so it’s ready for use. This can prompt fun activities such as cardboard tearing sessions. Children could also bring cardboard from home to get parents involved too.
  • To educate the whole school – staff as well as pupils – put up posters giving basic composting information for everyone who will be adding organic waste to the bin. We have A3 posters available for schools and groups, or children could design their own.  
  • Help everyone to understand that every time a caddy of food waste is added to a compost bin (adding nitrogen-rich materials) this should be followed by an equal amount of carbon-rich materials.
  • Many schools produce a lot of fruit waste, especially in the younger classes, and this needs particular attention as it has a high water content which can create a soggy mess if it’s not balanced with appropriate materials and aerated well.  Sawdust works well as a biofilter to absorb unpleasant smells. Fruit waste and sawdust should be added in thin layers and mixed well.
  • It’s a good idea if someone can keep the composting going during holidays by taking waste from home every couple of days so the bin continues to be fed.
  • Teach children that micro-organisms are living creatures, and the composting process is all about nurturing them.
  • Our blog – Compost School – a guide for absolute beginners – is a useful aid for lesson planning. It’s written simply for children to understand but is also aimed at anyone who may not have composted before.
  • Master composters are people who are passionate about composting and have trained as volunteers to share their composting knowledge. They visit schools and groups to offer advice. Check with your local authority to see if there are any in your area.

If all goes well, your composting project can expand to compost even more waste by using several compost bins or a Ridan giant tumbler, which has a cog and gear system that makes the handle easier to turn.

 Get a ‘compost chief’!

Projects involving a lot of people can hit problems if composting methods are not followed by everyone.

Occasionally, Green Johannas have been used in schools as general wastebins for food waste, without the necessary balance with carbon-rich materials, and this has inevitably led to problems. This has usually been the result of there not being a nominated ‘compost chief’ in charge.

Disappointing experiences give the impression that composting doesn’t work, which isn’t the case, so we are keen to help where we can.

What about the Green Cone?  

If you think a Green Cone Food Waste Digester might suit your aims, consider the following points:

  • You need a sunny spot in well-draining soil (not clay or chalk) where you can dig the hole required for the Cone’s underground basket.
  • One Green Cone can accept the food waste of the average family of four – about 1kg per day.
  •  Food waste lands in the underground basket; once the underground basket is full, you should stop adding waste until there is space in the basket for more.
  • Regular additions of accelerator powder are recommended – aim to use one sachet per month. Accelerator powder contains beneficial bacteria which digest the waste and boost the breakdown process.
  • As this is a food waste digester rather than a composter, no compost is produced. Instead, a nutrient-rich liquid seeps from the Cone’s underground basket and feeds surrounding soil.
  • The Green Cone doesn’t accept garden waste or paper waste.

Helpful advice

Some people are put off composting because of a fear of pests, but there are steps you can take to make a compost bin and the surrounding area so unattractive to unwanted visitors that they will go somewhere else instead. Read our blogs about how to deter pests and flies.  

How we can help

We are keen to support community composting projects. We can send you several copies of the instruction manuals for the Green Johanna and Green Cone so they can be shared out, as well as colourful A3-size posters about the Green Johanna.   Contact us at [email protected].

When is my compost ready to use?

Posted on by Julie Halford

This was a question that two new owners of a Green Johanna were asking themselves in their first year of composting. 

Adam and Hayley decided to try composting with a Johanna last year following a few failed attempts with other composters.

They’re both vegans and wanted to produce their own compost to use for growing their own veg, as well as recycling their food and garden waste sustainably.   

  The standard test for when compost is ready for use is that it is dark brown in colour, crumbly in texture and has a pleasant, earthy smell like damp woodland. If you’ve been hot composting, the mature compost will no longer be generating heat. The original materials should not be recognisable. There may be a few items that have not fully broken down, such as sticks, bits of tea bags, corncobs, eggshells, fruit stones, compostable bags – these can be picked out and added back into the next batch of composting material.

 If there are other recognisable waste items and an unpleasant smell, the compost is not ready and should be left to continue breaking down.

Master composter Rod Weston, in his book A Gardener’s Guide to Composting Techniques, suggests a test to check if compost is ready if you are wanting to add it to soil immediately (immature compost added to soil can cause a temporary reduction in the availability of nitrogen and oxygen and create root-inhibiting organic acids).

The test involves putting a handful of compost in a plastic bag and sealing it for three days at room temperature. If when opened the contents have a pleasant earthy smell, composting is complete.

 Rod suggests that during the growing season immature compost is best used as surface mulch. If mostly composted it will finish breaking down in the soil. In autumn and winter it can be dug into garden beds. Some people prefer to leave their compost breaking down over winter to have it ready for the start of a new growing season. 

Horticulturalist and author Charles Dowding encourages a relaxed approach to the final product. In his No-Dig Children’s Gardening Book (also a good read for adults) he says that mature compost can be anything from ‘slightly lumpy and fibrous to quite fine and soft’. It all depends on the materials that went into making it and they will all decompose at different rates.

‘It doesn’t need to look perfect – woody bits in your compost make great food for fungi.’

He cautions against sieving compost as it can damage microbes.

What’s the difference between compost and humus?

The term compost describes materials that are still breaking down whereas humus is what’s left when breakdown is no longer taking place and the usable chemicals in the organic matter have been extracted by the micro-organisms.

It takes years for compost to decompose into a humus state. Even mature compost isn’t really ‘finished’ since bugs and fungi still have material to work on. Some gardeners have a bank of composters and leave the final one to break down completely into humus.  

A bumper crop

Adam and Hayley decided to leave their compost for about a year so they could use it in a compost mix for growing potatoes.

With first-time use of a Green Johanna, it can take 6-8 months for compost to be ready for use. After that, depending on conditions, it’s usually 4-6 months. With regular cold composting it’s usually between 6 months to 2 years.

Great compost accelerator

The couple also used a bokashi bin alongside their Johanna.  The pre-compost that a bokashi bin produces makes an excellent compost accelerator, raising temperature and speeding up decomposition. Fermented bokashi mixture is usually quite wet so needs to be balanced with plenty of carbon-rich materials. The bokashi mixture will then break down in the composter. 

 ‘Bokashi has become a really useful part of our composting process,’ said Adam. ‘We put all our food waste straight into the bin and give it a few sprays of Bokashi spray, then once it’s full and has been left to ferment we transfer it to the Johanna.’

It usually takes them around one to two weeks to fill the Bokashi bin with their kitchen waste, which is usually vegetable scraps along with some beans. They then use their smaller kitchen caddy to take food waste to the Johanna while the Bokashi bin is ‘doing its thing’.

Food waste provides the compost mix with nitrogen-rich content, which must be balanced with shredded carbon-rich materials (dead leaves, twigs, branches, wood chips, paper waste) and regularly aerated to get oxygen into the pile.

The verdict on the Johanna:

With previous composting attempts, the couple had experienced slow breakdown of waste materials with hardly any compost produced.  

 ‘The Johanna is much better built and works faster at breaking down all the waste,’ said Adam.

The couple feel their efforts with the Johanna and Bokashi have paid off – not only are they recycling all their food and garden waste nature’s way, but they also get to make their own delicious home-grown spuds. What’s not to like? 

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