I’ve had my compost bin for 14 months now and I am very pleased with it. I use it for garden litter which saves on boring trips to the tip, and kitchen waste which it gobbles up by the bucket load. This, rather than compost, is what I bought it for. Biodegradable waste does not do well in the unnatural conditions of a rubbish dump. It bubbles away producing methane which adds to the greenhouse effect. Simply by putting my kitchen waste in a different bin I am reducing my carbon footprint.

It is also a practical investment for the future. The Uk government is committed to reducing the amount of biodegradable waste in landfill by 50%, by the year 2020; I don’t know how they plan to do this – compulsory composting perhaps? Separate waste collections? Investing in herds of municipal swine? Whatever – as 30% of uk domestic waste is organic this is bound to affect us all. Setting up a home composting system seems a sensible precaution.

There are many different ways to compost, from the traditional heap at the bottom of the garden to micro biological systems. Being new to composting I chose the easiest and cheapest option – a plastic bin stood in the garden. I got mine from Kirklees Council in partnership with Recycle Now. Recycle Now offer advice on all things pertaining to compost. They also sell a range of composting bins which, if you are a Kirklees resident, you can buy at a subsidised rate. There are some real bargains to be had.

As a waste disposal unit my compost bin was fantastic and massively reduced the amount going in my black bin.

The the RATS arrived!

Now I had been extremely careful what I put in it. No cooked food or dairy was to be found in there but seems the rats liked salad.

I stopped putting food waste in but the rats stayed. It was like a kind of rat hive in there.

And they ate everything I gave them, even the Leylandii hedge clippings. Now while I admire anything that can eat,and apparently enjoy Leylandii, I cant stand rats.

So I went out and  got myself a Green Johanna   compost bin. It is considered to be the rolls Royce of compost bins, and  is priced appropriately. However it claimed to be rat proof. You can read about it here

The black bin was abandoned till everything in it turned to compost. It was then moved to the allotment where it is happy eating leaves and other gardening detritus.