Although many of the things that we throw into our landfill waste bins are theoretically compostable, the nature of landfill being highly compacted and restricted of oxygen means that this does not always allow organic products to break down as fast as they should. Disposal also requires a lot more energy than managing your own waste - plus compost is great for the garden and saves you money on new soil!

Composting is one of the best, and often the most time-consuming part of a lower waste journey. The good news is that most of the effort comes at the beginning, either setting up a compost bin in your garden or finding alternative methods.

Good news for Cambridge residents! Cambridge city council now collects compost waste with your green bins fortnightly, which means you could use a kitchen caddy (which the council will provide for each household free of charge) to collect waste and dispose of in the bin. To avoid unpleasant smells and having to clean your caddy constantly, we recommend buying compostable caddy liners (you can buy 50 for £3 in the city homes office - more info here https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/kitchen-caddies-and-liners) or using newspaper to line your bin. You can make use of this compost for free by collecting it from the composting plant, check out the council website for details!

If you have the space and would prefer to make use of the compost yourself, consider getting a compost bin for your garden. You can also buy these from GetComposting (https://getcomposting.com/profile/login) starting at £17.98 with regular good deals. It is still a good idea to collect a kitchen caddy from the council, so that you only need to empty it every few days!

For more info on how to manage your compost heap visit : https://www.recyclenow.com/reduce-waste/composting