Frequently Asked Questions
What goes in the bucket?
YES
- vegetable/fruit skins, peelings and rinds of pretty much any kind
- ends of carrots/celery/capsicums etc.
- cores from cabbage, cauliflower, and of course apples
- leftovers and cooked food (as long as it is not too oily or fatty)
- bread, rice
- fruit, including citrus
- onions and garlic
- teabags (unless obviously plastic), tea, coffee
- small pieces of paper
- nuts, old spices
- sugar, cakes, biscuits
- lentils and beans
- avocado skins! even avocado seeds
- eggs and eggshells
- the contents of your vacuum if this is mostly dust and small amounts of human or pet hair
NO
- Those little fruit stickers! (please remove, send to landfill)
- meat/fish, including bones
- dairy (a little milk or yoghurt as part of cooked food, eg in a sauce is ok)
- oils and fats
- liquids
How do I keep my bucket from going stinky?
There are several things you can do to help keep your bucket from going stinky. Here are just a few:
- Swap your buckets out at least once weekly, regardless of if they are full or not
- Keep the lid off of the bucket (for plenty of oxygen and to aid evaporation)
- When a bucket is full, store it in your refrigerator or freezer till collection
- add absorptive material like coffee grounds or shredded paper to the bottom of the bucket
Why does my home compost take so long to break down?
For optimal performance a compost heap needs the right balance of these four ingredients: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water. If any of these are lacking or out of proportion then the compost will either take longer to transform, or may emit too much in the way of greenhouse gases while it does.
One of the advantages of community composting is that we can have a constant stream of nitrogen rich kitchen scraps that we can add in just the right amount to make for a very productive compost heap. It may seem counter-intuitive but by combining our kitchen scraps into one big pile we can make compost more quickly!