Richmond Council are encouraging residents to send less waste to landfill and compost more rubbbish at home, by a special offer for £10 compost bins available until 30th September. Working in conjunction with WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme), 3,900 bins have already been sold in Richmond since the scheme was set up.

A fantastic idea in principle, especially as your average compost bin has an RRP in excess of £30, and the Council will also deliver it for just 5 of your English pounds.

Residents are encouraged to compost perishable waste like vegetables, egg shells, tea bags, bread scraps etc as well as the usual garden waste and clippings.

Reducing the amount sent to the tip is something we can all do a little bit towards, and I applaud Richmond Council for their efforts and this great offer.

However I can't help wonder what those with small gardens - or no garden at all - will do, and if the Council will also be providing information packs on how to compost successfully. It's about more than just bunging all the rubbish into a bin and two months later out pours some wonderfully rich peaty-compost to spread on your borders. You need to watch what you put in as different materials produce different chemicals when they beging to break down, some spoiling potential compost completely, some just making it a bit of an average slop. There's rotation to consider - more than one bin is essential for decent composting for example, as the heap needs to be moved and aerated.

I also have an image in my mind of the ground-level every garden in the UK being 5 feet higher in 50 years time!

Tell you what, in the interests of supporting the Council's composting scheme, I'll do a bit of research and blog at a later date about successful composting. An expert I'm not, but I do know someone who is...

Regards, Silas Van Der Bas

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