Contact Details

Elmbridge Borough Council
Civic Centre,
High Street,
Esher,
Surrey,
KT10 9SD
Tel: 01372 474474
|General Enquiry

Home Composting

|Read our Garden & Composting Newsletter!

Composting at home is one of the best things you can do for the environment! It's certainly the most environmentally friendly and cost effective way of dealing with your garden waste. It also makes Composting Cartoonnutrient rich compost you can put back into your garden.

You can get a reduced price home composter by visiting |the recycle now website or calling 0845 0770757 (quote ref: HCA2).

|How do I make leaf mulch?

What can you compost at home?

The key to a healthy compost heap is to keep a good mix of green and brown materials, and stir regularly. There are lots of everyday items that you can add to your compost such as:

 

What to put in your compost heap?
Green materialsBrown materials
Grass clippingsShredded prunings
Garden pruningsCereal boxes
NettlesToilet & kitchen roll tubes
Tea bagsEgg boxes
Young annual weeds (e.g.chickweed & speedwell)Ashes from wood, paper or lumpwood charcoal
Fruit & vegetable peelingsTumble dryer lint (from natural fibre clothes)
Old flowersCorn cobs and stalks
Ground coffee & filter paperCotton threads
Pond algae & seaweed (in moderation)Torn up cardboard
WeedsWool
Spent bedding plantsString (made from natural fibres)
Comfrey leavesEgg shells
Rhubarb leavesPine needles and cones (slow to compost so don't put too much in)
 Old natural fibres (e.g. woolly jumpers or cotton t-shirts cut into small pieces) 
 Dry leaves, twigs and hedge clippings
 Newspaper (scrunched up)
 Shredded paper
 Woody clippings
 Garden prunings
 Feathers
 Tissues, paper towels and napkins (unless they have been in contact with meat, fats, oils or disease)

 

Are you having trouble with your compost...

Too wet or unpleasant smells?

Too dry?

Attracting flies and vermin?

Please remember, you need some insect activity in your compost heap!

Slow decomposition?

Alternatively...

Take your garden waste to be composted at a |recycling centre.

Subscribe for our |garden waste collection serviceand we'll compost your garden waste every fortnight.

 

 

 

Related Pages:
 
Composting
   |Composting Home (Pages)
   |Garden Waste Service (Pages)
   |Garden/Green Waste and Composting (A - Z )
   |Get Composting (Links)
   |How does the garden waste collection service operate? (FAQ)
   |Leaf Mulch (Pages)
   |Waste Online (Links)
   |Why can't garden waste go in my refuse bin? (FAQ)