Things needed:
- Pail/Bin with tight fitting lid
- Drill
- Drill bit(smaller, better)
- Shredded newspaper/dried leaves
- Soil
- Kitchen and Garden scraps
- Sprayer
- Lukewarm water
- (optional) Small scrap of carpet
1. Get a bin with a tight lid (to make sure that waste doesn’t come into contact with the environment before composted and to ensure that insects don’t get in) , around 20 inches tall. Drill holes on the bottom and the lid of the bin with a few holes (to aerate the compost later on). Line with newspapers or dry leaves up to 1/8 full and add some soil (up to 3/5 of the bin).
2. Collect food scraps, basically any waste or left overs from the kitchen, both cooked and uncooked. Avoid oily foods, fish, dairy products, meat and other meat-related wastes such as fat, bones and skin as it will rot instead of compost, attracting maggots and other unwanted pests. Fill up to 7/8 of the bin but take care not to put too much at a time. Mix the contents well and cover with lid. As an additional measure to avoid fruit flies, a carpet or a small scrap of cloth can be placed over the bin.
3. It is fine to add more food waste later on, but ensure that it is well mixed into the existing pile. Place the compost bin in a shady area away from the sun so as to keep it moist. If it dries up, it is fine to spray little water from time to time. Wait until the compost material turns dark brown and earthy, not unlike soil in appearance. This would take around 2-3 months.
4. To harvest the compost, don’t remove all at a time. Remove a maximum of 3/4 of the bin at any one time to ensure that the composting process can continue without the need for the set up process again. This compost material can be spread over flower beds, used as potting material for young plants, sprinkled over lawns for conditioning purposes or simply mixed into soil as fertilizer.
5. This process can be repeated again with new batches of food scraps added to the bin. It is an inexpensive, convenient and sustainable process of recycling which can ensure a constant supply of fertilizer for your garden.
(: Now you try it out!
Composting@Home [SG] 