Composting: The best way to dispose of food waste
AS more and more people look to ways of lowering their waste bill and of reducing what they send to landfill, your compost bin provides a great solution.
Currently there are two ways of composting your waste in Sligo. The first involves asking your waste collection service for a free brown kerbside bin which you then use for food waste.
This service is available to 18 areas in Sligo.
The second is a garden composter which you can buy at any number of outlets locally and which, after the initial purchase should provide you with years of free disposal for certain types of kitchen waste.
Let’s start with the kerbside bin. This is typically the least expensive of your three bins you present for collection. The great news about this is that it will take all of your food waste - cooked and uncooked meats, bones, fruit and vegetables, coffee grinds, teabags, fish, pizza, even paper napkins and newspapers can be disposed of in this bin. If you decide to go for the garden composter you can generally pick one up at your local hardware store for around €20. Sligo County Council also have a stock of these.
Avoid putting meat or dairy products into it to avoid attracting vermin. But it will take uncooked fruit and vegetables which quickly break down, especially if you mix it with garden waste like grass cuttings. Once it breaks down completely, usually after a number of months, you will be able to remove the compost through a lower hatch located at the front of the bin, and this can be used to help new plants along.
If you have large amounts of garden waste the organic composting facility in Ballisodare will take this waste for a small charge. Finally, we as Autumn arrives, many of us will decide to tidy up our gardens before the evenings draw in. This is a great time to get yourself a garden composter. Once you fill it with garden waste, give it a turn once or twice over the coming months and before you know it, once Spring arrives and you want to get planting again, you should have a ready made pile of compost ready to help your garden grow. For more tips visit www. sligococo.ie/greenaware.