Home composting

Making compost at home is a good and effective way of reducing your waste and producing a rich material to use in your garden and can complement the council's own food and garden waste collection service.

Because Milton Keynes Council does not sell compost bins directly, we have joined forces with Evengreener which offers low cost bins on our behalf. You can view and purchase the full range of composters, wormeries and water butts on the Get Composting website.

Compost is an organic material comprising of garden waste and/or kitchen scraps which has decomposed to form a rich, soil-like substance. During the composting process, tiny organisms feed on the waste and multiply, which breaks down the organic materials.

Home compost is perfect for encouraging healthy growth of plants, shrubs and flowers or simply using as a mulch or lawn fertiliser.

Composting at home is just one small step towards making sure that we minimise the amount of waste we create, but if everybody gets involved then it makes a huge difference.

What materials can I put in my compost bin?

What you can compost	Things to avoid
Grass cuttings Shredded stalks/hedge clippings/prunings Dry leaves and twigs Kitchen/loo roll tubes Cardboard egg boxes Cut flowers Vegetable peelings and fruit scraps Egg shells Tea bags and coffee grounds Shredded bank statements and confidential papers Vacuum cleaner bag contents Straw and hay Bedding from vegetarian pets Feathers, fur and hair	Diseased plants Dog and cat faeces Cat litter Soot and coal ash Glossy or coloured paper Meat and fish scraps Bones Weeds that have set seed

Please note we are currently awaiting new supplies of our soil conditioning compost produced using Milton Keynes’ food and garden waste, usually available to buy at the council’s three Community Recycling Centres (CRCs).

For more useful tips on home composting, or for answers to your home composting problems visit the recycle now composting website, email Milton Keynes Council's Recycling Team or call 01908 25 45 93.