Composting turns biowaste into valuable food for your garden. Most garden waste, as well as some types of food waste, can be composted. But, you must make sure that any non-compostable food waste goes into your food waste bin. This page contains lists of what you can and cannot compost.

Home composting

Compost can be made by leaving material in a heap or in a bin. The method you choose may depend on the size of your garden, the amount of material you have to compost or the amount of compost you need.

Getting started

A compost heap should be at least one metre square and one metre high. It should be enclosed with brick or timber and covered to keep the rain out. Space should be left at the front, giving room to turn the heap.

Compost bins are a better option for smaller gardens. Your local council may offer them at a discount. You can also buy compost bins from garden centres and DIY stores. The bin is open-ended to allow earth worms to enter the material and help speed up the process.

What you can and can't compost

You can compost:

• fruit and vegetable scraps
• tea bags, coffee grounds
• egg shells
• grass cuttings, prunings and leaves
• small amounts of shredded paper and soft cardboard
• animal hair
• vacuum dust (only from woollen carpets)
• garden and pond plants

You can't compost:

• cat or dog excrement
• meat and fish
• dairy products
• diseased plants
• disposable nappies
• shiny card
• hard objects

Any non-compostable food waste left over, like meat, fish, bones, cooked food and dairy products, must go in your food waste bin. Find out more on this page - Food waste.

The composting process

Three types of organisms begin to grow all over the material (fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes) and break down the waste. This produces heat, further increasing the activity of the bacteria.

Once the bacteria have used up all the starch and sugars, the temperature falls again. This creates a better environment for the fungi, which then begins breaking down any woody material.

Composting can take weeks or months depending on how much air and moisture are present.

The compost is ready to use when it looks crumbly and has a slightly earthy smell.

Animals and kitchen waste

Generally, keeping domestic pets doesn't stop you using composted kitchen waste in the garden. However, animals like pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, deer or other hoofed animals mustn't be allowed near kitchen waste, as they could catch diseases from it. If you keep poultry, you must compost using an enclosed container so that the poultry doesn't come into contact with it.

Composting or disposing of pond plants

Some pond and water plants can damage other plants and animals. For example, the floating pennywort can grow 20 centimetres a day, blocking out light and cutting the oxygen for other plants and animals.

When it’s time to thin out your pond, dispose of your plants by composting them or putting them in your council’s garden waste collection bin. Don’t dump plants in the wild as they could get into ponds or streams and start spreading.

Find out how to stop the spread of aquatic plants on the following nidirect page:

• Invasive non-native aquatic plants

Green garden waste collection schemes

As well as kerbside recycling of garden waste, councils collect garden waste from your home. Find out more from your local council.

Recycling centres

You can also take garden waste to your local household waste and recycling centre. You will find skips for garden waste, which is taken to composting facilities and either sold on or re-used locally as a soil improver.