composting - the basics?

[bossykate]

i'm very keen to reduce our household waste at the moment and am interested in trying composting as a means of achieving this. our local council does special offers on equipment.

i'm hoping someone can give me some basic hints/tips/pros/cons etc. e.g. iirc, you need to have a minimum volume of organic waste during a given period in order to do it. is this right? and if so how much?

i would be grateful for any info.

thanks for your help.

Can I ask if you can put cereal or easter egg boxes in? Do they count as cardboard or am I going to have to haul them all out before the bin men come?

I know I think I've gone a bit mad in my old age (38) doing the green bit. I now rant and rave about all the packaging that stuff comes in and try and re-cycle whatever I can but it is a bit of a pain. By the way - do you know if you can put seeds in them because I was throwing away butternut squash peelings and the seeds were there too or will I end up with a composter full of butternut squash?

bk - that's v useful (nice and simple), thank you.

BH - hadn't thought about those, not sure

Badhair - I don't know about cereal boxes and things like that because they've got shiny bits but I don't know if these can go in the paper recycling either ?

My council tells me that I can't put waxed packaging in, ie milk cartons etc, but says cardboard is OK. It doesn't say not to put cereal packets etc (and believe me, the Yes and No lists are pretty damned detailed)!