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Discounted home composting bins could reduce the waste you send to landfill

Aberdeenshire Council is offering substantially reduced home composting bins to help residents recycle more of their household waste.

Composting at home is an excellent way to reduce the overall amount of waste you produce and can have lots of other benefits too.

The council is encouraging people to recycle more to help achieve higher recycling rates as well as budget savings.

With the Scottish Government setting a recycling target of 70% by 2025, and the area achieving 33% in 2010-11, there is a long way to go.

From September 5, the council will limit householders to one wheeled-bin each fortnight, with no excess waste (waste outside the bin) being collected.

Home composting could quickly reduce the amount of waste households may still be putting into landfill through their general waste collection.

As well as the discounted equipment, the council website also offers residents advice on how to go about starting up your own garden composter.

An 800-litre capacity composter can be bought from the council for just £35, while a 320-litre capacity bin is just £20.

Wasteline is now able to take orders and payment by phone for the bins, which have manufacturer’s recommended retail prices of £124 and £67 respectively.

There is a limit of two bins per household and they are delivered flat-packed within 28 days and with full assembly instructions.

Compost bins keep your garden waste out of your bin and out of landfill, as well as helping to keep your garden tidy.

Home produced compost provides free soil improver, improving the structure of garden soils, and can be used as mulch, helping to retain water.

It provides an excellent food source for plants and reduces the amount of chemical fertiliser put on land.

As well as these benefits, using a home compost bin helps to reduce pollution and not having to buy compost will save householders money.

A home composter can also deal with confidential waste – just put in your shredded documents mixed with garden waste and they will be unrecognisable in no time.

The following are some of the items you can put in a home composter:

• Shredded cardboard

• Shredded paper

• Hedge trimmings

• Leaves

• Small branches and bark

• Sawdust and wood shavings

• Twigs

• Coffee grounds

• Egg shells

• Flowers, plants and weeds

• Grass cuttings

• Fruit and vegetable peel

For more information on home composters, to order, or for any issue related to waste, call the Wasteline on 0845 600 3 900 or see: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/waste

Aberdeen Forward support the Zero Waste Volunteer programme, which replaced the old Master Composter one. More information is available at http://www.aberdeenforward.org/our-projects/new-event-3rd-june-2010/zero-waste.

There is also general composting information on the Zero Waste Scotland website at http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/homecomposting

Residents in Aberdeenshire can also claim free black and blue recycling containers. Extra boxes could help residents recycle more and reduce the volume of waste in their bins.

They are available free of charge from collection crews or by calling WasteLine on 0845 600 3 900. Free blue-lidded paper bins are also available for rural residents.

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