Start composting and turn kitchen scraps into garden gold
Whether you've got a garden bin or just a bokashi bucket under the sink, composting feeds your plants for free and keeps food waste out of the bin — where it would otherwise pump out methane.
Roughly a third of what goes in the average household bin is food and garden waste — and once it’s buried in landfill, packed down with no air, it rots the wrong way and releases methane, a greenhouse gas dozens of times more warming than CO₂ over its first years. Compost the same scraps with plenty of air and that problem largely vanishes; instead you get a free, dark, crumbly soil improver that plants love.
The science is just managed rotting. Microbes and worms eat your peelings, and the trick to keeping them happy — and the smell away — is balance: nitrogen-rich “greens” like veg trimmings and coffee grounds, mixed with carbon-rich “browns” like cardboard and dead leaves, plus a bit of air. Get the ratio roughly right and you’ll never get the slimy, sour heap people dread.
One honest caveat: it isn’t instant, and an open garden bin won’t take cooked food without inviting rats. If you’ve only a balcony or want to compost leftovers too, a sealed bokashi bucket or a small wormery does the job indoors with no smell. Start with whatever fits your space — even a single bin quietly shrinks your rubbish and feeds next year’s tomatoes.
How to do it
- Pick your method: an open or enclosed bin in the garden, a wormery on a balcony, or a sealed bokashi bucket if you've no outdoor space at all.
- Site a garden bin on bare soil in a part-shaded spot so worms and microbes can move in from below; stand a wormery or bokashi bucket somewhere frost-free.
- Layer 'greens' (veg peelings, coffee grounds, tea, grass clippings) with roughly twice as many 'browns' (cardboard, dead leaves, shredded paper) to keep it from going slimy.
- Skip cooked food, meat, dairy and bones in an open bin (they attract rats) — these only go in a sealed bokashi or hot composter.
- Turn or aerate a garden heap every couple of weeks; with bokashi, drain off the liquid and bury the fermented contents in soil or a wormery after two weeks.
- Harvest the dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling compost from the bottom after roughly six to twelve months and spread it on beds, pots or the lawn.
Pro tips & pitfalls
- Too wet and smelly? Add more browns — torn-up cardboard or egg boxes — and give it a stir. Too dry and nothing's happening? Add greens and a splash of water.
- No garden? Bokashi ferments everything (including cooked food and small bones) in a sealed bucket with no smell, and many German towns let you tip the result into the Biotonne or a communal plot.
- Bury the spent bokashi or finished compost a hand's depth down; on the surface it can attract foxes and flies before it breaks in.
What it's good for
Good for the planet
- Cuts waste Diverts the third or so of household bin weight that's food and garden scraps away from landfill and into your soil.
- Cuts CO₂ Food rotting in landfill releases methane, a greenhouse gas far stronger than CO₂; composting with air avoids almost all of it.
- Protects nature Finished compost feeds soil life and plants, so you skip the bagged peat compost and synthetic fertiliser entirely.
Good for you
- Saves money A bin of homemade compost replaces €30–60 a year of shop-bought soil improver and feed.
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