Compost is organic material like food waste, which has decomposed and can be used as fertiliser. Disposing of waste food in a compost bin in your garden can nourish the soil and help grow healthy plants, reducing the need for commercial fertilisers. Composting can keep up to 30% of waste out of the rubbish bin. This saves energy as your waste isn’t being transported and processed elsewhere. Composting¹ for one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces in a year – the same amount your washing machine produces in three months.

Grass clippings can also go into your compost bin but letting your grass clippings decompose naturally on the lawn is the fastest way to return nutrients to the soil. Here are some tips for good composting.

In Bristol we already recycle a lot of our food waste. The council provides brown bins for food waste which are collected on a weekly basis by Bristol Waste. Read more advice on how you can reduce your food waste.

¹www.recyclenow.com/reduce-waste/composting/why-compost