Celebrating the magic of compost
07 May 2024
This week is International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW), a worldwide event that aims to raise public awareness about why we should all be composting our food waste and using compost to create healthier soil.
During ICAW, organisations, schools, and communities around the world join forces to spread the word about the magic of compost and why we should regenerate our food scraps at every opportunity.
The benefits of compost
Compost benefits our environment in more ways than one. For instance, when we use food scraps and garden waste to make compost either at home or by using our green bins, we divert this waste from heading to landfill.
Quality compost also:
- adds nutrients to soil so that whatever grows from it contain nutrients too
- helps soil retain moisture so that plants that grow from it need less watering
- can even help land survive through drought conditions.
What’s more, just like a healthy gut microbiome, the bacteria present in quality compost, prevents soil borne diseases from taking over plants and crops.
Let’s get our bin habits right
This week is a great time to check in on our bin habits at home to ensure you're using our 3-bin system correctly.
Remember that if you live in the Tweed and you have a green lid bin, you must only place food scraps and garden waste in this bin.
Due to recent changes to your green bin, you may no longer put any fibre-based products such as tissues, napkins, tea bags, soiled paper and cardboard in it. These products must be placed in your red lid bin - and clean paper and cardboard pieces must go in the yellow bin.
If you're thinking of setting up your own home compost system, visit North East Waste's Scrap Together page for some great home composting tips.
For more information on your green lid bin, please visit Council's website.