compost bins

[sarz]

Can anyone help me to find a compost bin? I want one to be enviromentaly friendly, rather than to help my plants, and also any tips on what to do with it?? also(regarding the post i have put in the pet section!!) can you put cat poo in it????

Try your local council... mine were selling them for a fiver delivered! and no to cat poo i'm afraid!

yes, most local councils have started encouraging recycling on a big scale so are selling compost bins cheapo

if not, get some planks of wood and nail together, about 3 planks high

in a square shape obv

email or phone your council - I got a huge one delivered for a fiver.

It should have a leaflet with it to tell you what you can/cant put in it

Thank you! my council are selling them for £10 but thats still cheap! thankyou!!

No to cat's poo from what I've heard - I think there's a possibility of harmful bacteria. Composting is great fun and most councils do have good offers. Good luck.

You need a good mix of wet & dry ingredients for the compost bin. Think of it as wet layer followed by a dry layer. In my case all the veg peelings etc go in as does the contents of the paper shredder bin once that is full. This seems to rot down to nice compost. we are a family of four and we fill a compost bin in a year, but there is an awful lot of garden/grass cuttings which go in there.

definitely no to cat poo, and watch what you put in from the kitchen too or you will attract rats. Basically avoid cooked stuff - but your bin will come with lots of instructions.

We haven't got a paper-shredder so I've been tearing up any sensitive paperwork and putting it in the compost bin with all the old egg-shells and teabags. Can't see many identity thiefs wanting to sift through that lot!

Um thieves

we got ours fron our council. we ordered it from their website £12 delivered for a medium size one - they do three sizes, it is a black one that looked spookily like a Dalek when it was delivered. They also supplied a leaflet explaining what you can put in and how to get the best mix to create the best compost.

My Alan Titchmarsh gardening book says a compost bin needs three things: organic matter (like kitchen waste), water and bacteria. You can get the bacteria from soil, if you just shovel in a spadeful every now and again. The water will be there in a lot of the food waste anyway, but it doesn't hurt to throw a bucket of water over it sometimes to prevent it getting too dry.