We all produce waste of some sort, whether it is an empty drinks can or clippings from the garden. More than 25 million tonnes of waste was collected in England and Wales in 2001/02 – that’s more than half a tonne of rubbish, per person, each year (or the equivalent weight of one dairy cow).
The alternative - what’s in my bin?
The average dustbin contains waste materials of which more than 80% could be recycled or re-used
Glass, metals, and plastic materials can be taken to local tips or recycling points. Paper, newspaper and magazines can be recycled in the black box or at a recycling site. More than a third of our bin waste is organic material – food and garden waste.
Compost looks like rich, dark soil and is made up of recycled kitchen and garden waste. It helps your garden to grow naturally by improving soil structure, feeding your plants and helping to retain moisture. Best of all, it’s free.
If it will rot, it will compost, but some items are best avoided. For the best compost you need a mixture of ingredients:
Young weeds, grass cuttings, wood ash, cardboard tubes, egg boxes, fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, old flowers, vegetable plant remains, soft prunings, perennial weeds, saw dust and egg shells,
Grass cuttings and horse manure are very good ingredients to get the compost started.
Meat, fish, cooked food, nappies, dog and cat faeces, glossy magazines and persistent weeds.
This can be done by making a traditional heap or by using a purpose built wooden or plastic container.
Select a site where the compost heap or container will get some heat from the sun, preferably on bare earth.
Begin with a layer of prunings, to help circulate air and to provide simple drainage, which helps the organisms break down the rubbish.
Add a mixture of garden trimmings and kitchen waste.
After one to three months turn the compost.
The compost will be ready in anything from a few months to a year. It should be crumbly and dark brown or black.
Alternatively you can use a worm bin or wormery. A wormery is a container housing a colony of special types of worms eg. tiger worms. The worms eat all the dead and decaying matter to produce a small amount of compost and a liquid, which is an excellent concentrated plant feed. There are a variety of worm bins for sale, complete with worm starter kits.
Any green garden rubbish that you can’t compost at home can be taken to the household recycling site at Pebsham where green waste is taken to a large composting site. The compost is used on the landfill site to help turn it back into fields.
Hastings Borough Council, along with East Sussex County Council and other local authorities in East Sussex, is offering a 60-day free composter and water butt trial.
For more details call the free trial hotline on 0870 8443000.
The Council is also supporting the East Sussex Rethink Rubbish campaign, offering reduced-priced wormeries to Hastings and St Leonards residents for £35.
For more details contact Blackwall Ltd on 0870 844 3000.
If your idea of washable nappies involves boiling pots of smelly terry towelling nappies on the stove, complicated folding, crinkly plastic pants and wielding dangerous looking pins – then think again! Washable nappies have been completely re-thought and re-designed. A fantastic selection of styles and sizes are now available to suit everybody’s budget and individual preferences. Washable nappies look cute and chic and they are very cheap to buy. They are soft, comfortable, breathable, reliable and efficient. Many more parents today are choosing to use washable nappies. Why is this?
Would you like to give washable nappies a try?
The Brighton & Hove and East Sussex Real Nappy Network (as part of your local authority’s waste awareness initiative) has put together a starter pack scheme to invite you to try washable nappies at minimal cost. We’re confident that once you give them a go you’ll see how easy and convenient they are to use and want to carry on using them. You can buy a starter pack for just £5.
Contact Real Nappy Promotions Officer for the Brighton & Hove and East Sussex Real Nappy Network. Telephone 07919 227 578 or email: nappies@eastsussexcc.gov.uk
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This page last updated: 29/09/2004