A lot of people often tell us they want to start composting but have no idea what to do, how to start or what to expect. We’ve covered a bit of the first two but often the biggest is understanding what’s in store for a brand new composter.
To help give a bit of a primer to anyone thinking of starting the life of a composter, here’s our week-long overview of what it’s like.
Day 1.
You’ve got your set-up ready to go. Your brand new compost bin or pile base is fresh, you’ve got a cover, you’ve got a turner, now all you need is the waste. Whether it’s leftover food, paper recyclables or garden greens, all of them can go in (so long as it’s all balanced).
You grab your biggest Tupperware container for day-to-day organics. You could keep it on the counter or under the sink, but you heard a little secret the other day - keeping it in the fridge is actually better for improving nutrient retention.
Day 2.
Another day, another dinner, with all the trimmings and left-overs tipped into your collection container. Depending on how many people you live with, it’s probably getting pretty close to full! You’ve also been stocking up on tissues, cardboard, paper and heaps of other carbon-rich organic recyclables.
Day 3.
Maybe the grass has been getting long or the branches on your bonsai need a clip, but whichever it is, that sort of green waste can also be composted. Your kitchen container is full by now, so all of these can go out into whatever your compost set-up is, topped off with your carbon organics to balance it out*.
*If you’re not sure about balancing is, check out our article on it here.
Once all your organics are in, use your turner to mix it evenly up, throw the cover on and you’re done!
Days 4, 5 and 6.
You just start again! If this seems way too easy, that’s because it is! Compost is simply putting your organic waste in a different bin and instead of taking out the trash, you turn over the pile.
Day 7.
Let’s make this interesting and skip forward a few weeks. You’ve been tipping and turning your compost. It’s gotten steamy, it smells like rich, fresh soil and it looks ready to go.
This is the only part of your new composter life that takes a bit of time. For anywhere from a quarter of to an hour, you carry and spread your newest batch of natural fertiliser onto the garden or your pot-plants - that’s come from your very own kitchen.
And then you just start all over!
There are a lot of misconceptions around composting - that it's incredibly difficult, messy, time-consuming and gross - but hopefully, we've managed to dispell a few!
Now to be fair, things are only this easy if you know what you're doing, but that's exactly why we're building our monitoring device and mobile platform. With Monty, life as a composter can really be this simple. To stay posted on when you can get your own, make sure to subscribe to our socials for announcements - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn!