Love your Mum… and love the planet
Mums are being urged to put their Mothers Day flowers into the compost bin – once they have wilted of course.
Fresh flowers are always a favourite on Mothers Day but the extra flowers create a lot of organic waste that could be put to good use in compost bins across the area.
By home composting, you can reduce the amount of waste you send to landfill sites. And it is not just vegetable peelings and dead leaves that can be recycled in this way – occasions such as Mothers Day are a great time to remember the variety of items you can add to your compost bin.
After Mothers Day is a distant memory, old flowers will be a perfect ingredient. Flowers are a ‘green’ ingredient and rot quickly to provide moisture and nitrogen for the compost, which makes for a nutritious end product.
It is vital to mix these ‘green’ items with more fibrous ‘brown’ items such as shredded paper and card, as these will add structure to your compost and allow air in. So, those cards that say ‘I love you’ can also say ‘I love my compost bin’. Either rip-up or scrunch the cards and add them to the mix – and in nine to twelve months you will have a batch of perfectly balanced compost.
Emily Martin, Warwickshire County Council’s Waste Projects Officer, said: “Many people ask ‘why home compost?’. Home composting diverts waste from landfill sites. In landfill, waste breaks down without oxygen and gives off the harmful greenhouse gas methane.
“When composted at home, the same waste breaks down with oxygen, and as a result no methane is produced which is better for the environment. What is more, the finished compost can be put to good use as a free natural fertiliser for plants and gardens, so everyone’s a winner.”
Order your bin now ready for the spring. Reduced price compost bins can be brought online by visiting http://www.wcc.getcomposting.com or call 0844 571 4444.