One man's compost is another man's potpourri

Tipping kitchen scraps into the bin is a daily habit for most, but home composting could substantially reduce the waste generated by households, at a time when Malta's greenhouse gas emissions have practically doubled over a decade.

Many are under the impression that the practice is a messy one, but for those who have a garden or backyard, or even a roof garden, all they need is a compost bin.

WasteServ has embarked on a mission to encourage people to adopt this habit because it calculates that 45 per cent of the contents of the average rubbish bag can be composted.

What starts at home as waste can help grow plants and vegetables without ever leaving backyards or gardens. Often referred to as "black gold", compost is a soil-like product, derived from a natural biological process. This process converts organic material, such as food scraps and leaf and yard materials, into an excellent soil conditioner, full of nutrients.

More importantly, composting reduces the burden of waste being trudged to the landfill, which has an estimated life time of seven years.

WasteServ's communication officer Daniela Vella said that if everybody did their bit, it would add up and apart from prolonging the landfill's lifetime, households would also be more environment friendly. While WasteServ's campaign to push the public to reduce, re-use or recycle their waste by disposing of glass, paper, cans and plastic has picked up tremendously, composting has been slow.

Over the past two years WasteServ has sold 250 compost bins at a subsidised rate. This figure can only give a minimum estimate of the situation as other companies sell compost bins and some people even make their own.

On the other hand, the rubbish being sent to the bring-in sites was encouraging - from January to October 859,562 kilogrammes of paper; 283,440 kilogrammes of plastic; 156,160 kilogrammes of metal and 532,060 kilogrammes of glass were collected.

Ms Vella said that before the year was out the number of bring-in sites will reach 400 from the present 116 bins in place. A number of bins have been placed in schools and WasteServ is liaising with local councils on the exact location of where to place the new ones.

Another project, funded by the European Social Fund, has also been instrumental in pushing people to stop and think about the effect of their waste habits on the environment.

This project involved training 27 people on the benefits of recycling and composting and these in turn visited 20,000 households in one year advising families on such procedures.

The project will be repeated again this year, in the hope of targeting as many homes as possible and informing people of the role every individual could play towards a greener environment.

"Every little bit each individual does counts - over 60 per cent of our waste is recyclable and can be composted," Ms Vella said.

What you can compost

Apart from garden waste, such as lawn cuttings and leaves in small quantities, a lot can come from the kitchen: fruit scraps and vegetable peelings, tea bags, ground coffee and crushed egg shells, for instance.

Sawdust and soaked hay and straw can be added, and to help the composting process the droppings of vegetarian pets (hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits) can be put in too.

It would be preferable not to add meat and fish scraps, as these may attract vermin, or dog and cat pooh, for fear of disease. Neither are nappies, used tissues, dairy products, cooked or baked food good for the pile. Paper and cards may be thrown in, and torn up. However, not in very large amounts.

Compost takes some months to mature. To help the process place the compost bin in the sun, to raise the temperature inside. Ensure a good circulation of air in the bin by layering twigs, cut flowers or remains of house plants at the bottom of the unit.

Some households sometimes report problems in the process. If there is an unpleasant smell, the reason is that no air is getting through the bin.

The solution is to aerate the compost by turning it with a fork. If the compost is wet and smelly it means that too much green material, such as grass, was used. Put in less green material. If you have lots of it to use, let it dry out first, or mix it with brown materials, such as straw or sawdust.

If the compost material is not breaking down, it may be that the compost bin needs a better place, so move it to a sunny position, preferably on bare soil for drainage.

If the compost heap dries out, as it may in summer, add water until the compost is moist. To avoid flies you can cover the pile with paper or a layer of soil or sand.

Compost is ready to use when the materials placed in the bin have broken down to produce a dark brown, crumbly mixture. Dig that mixture into planting areas to improve the health of the soil. Compost helps to loosen heavy clay soils by improving aeration and drainage; working compost into sandy soils will enable more water to be retained.

Coarse compost may be used as mulch. Putting three to five centimetres on top of the soil around plants, rather than digging it into the soil, will help retain moisture and also suppress weeds, reducing the need for chemical herbicides.

Mulching also increases the populations of soil organisms such as earthworms, which will help to break down the compost and work it into the soil.

WasteServ sells compost bins at a subsidised price of Lm18. They can be bought at its offices, from Phoenix Building, Old Railway Track, Sta Venera, or from local councils.

www.wasteservmalta.com