We've been composting all our garden waste, plus most of our food waste. But not cooked food waste. We don't have much of that, but there are always things like trimmed fat, fish skins, and the odd over-catered potato that shouldn't be put in ordinary compost, lest it attract rats. We've always been a bit annoyed at having to wrap this up and put it in the "green recycling bin": couldn't we recycle it ourselves?
So recently we bought a "hot bin". This is essentially a big polystyrene box that keeps the heat in, allowing a high enough temperature that cooked food can be composted. To install it, we needed to move the old kitchen waste compost bin (garden waste has it own complex of three large bins elsewhere.) Interesting, we had been filling, but not emptying, this bin for 10 years. When we tipped it up, a glorious brick of very dense, very black, very fine compost slid out from it; not quite coal, but close!
The hot bin needs more care than the standard compost bins, in order to maintain a sufficiently high temperature, and a proper mix of materials. Today it was full enough, and composted enough, that we could remove some of its contents.
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| the hot bin, with the output door opened, sited next to the old kitchen waste compost bin |
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| close up of the yummy compost |
So now, even less stuff to put out for council recycling.
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