To celebrate International Compost Awareness Week this May, we're offering you the chance to win a HotBin Mini 100 litre compost bin! Take our short composting quiz for your chance to enter the prize draw.
Composting is a natural process that turns your food and garden waste into soil improver for your garden. By composting at home, you can reduce the amount of waste needed to be processed elsewhere. In Essex, food and garden waste makes up 25% of the general waste we throw away.
To help Essex residents get started with home composting, you can purchase a subsidised compost bin for your garden. You can also try our free online course – find out all about the benefits of composting at home and how to get started.
After purchasing a compost bin, there is no other expense. In fact, over time, composting will save you money. Compost your food waste such as fruit and vegetable peelings, with your garden waste. You will create a free soil improver that you can use on your garden. This will also reduce your carbon emissions, as there is no need to transport and process this waste. It doesn’t even take long to see the results. Your soil improver should be ready in just 9 to 12 months.
By composting at home you will be creating a great environment for insects such as worms and beetles. They will work hard digesting your food and garden waste into valuable soil improver. By encouraging insects, you may also encourage other wildlife such as garden birds, hedgehogs and maybe even slow-worms.
Not only is home composting a great activity for your garden, but a great excuse to spend more time outside. It’s fun for the whole family and the perfect introduction for children to learn about nature and wildlife.
To help Essex residents get started with home composting, we offer subsidised compost bins for less than half-price.
To purchase a subsidised compost bin:
The compost bins are made from recycled plastic and require no set-up. All you need to do is enter your Essex postcode and your discount will be automatically applied.
Purchase your compost bin today
However, if a compost bin is not for you, you can always build your own compost heap from materials that you have lying around.
If you’re new to composting, or want to discover more successful techniques, you might like our free online course. Provided by Garden Organic you can find out all about the benefits of composting at home and how to get started.
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.
Login to the free composting course
Please use the Guest Access with the password: LoveEssexCompost
Win a HotBin Mini 100 litre compost bin this spring
Watch our series of home composting videos on YouTube