You can get your composter and other ‘green’ products such as water butts from the Get Composting website.

The best compost is made with a mixture of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials. Find out more on the Recycle Now website.

Green material will help provide nutrients to your plants. Brown material will help the structure of the soil. It’s important to get lots of air into your compost; scrunched-up paper and card will help create air pockets and help keep your compost healthy.

Green materials

• grass cuttings
• old flowers/plants
• rabbit/hamster/guinea pig bedding
• raw fruit and vegetable peelings
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• wet green materials

Brown materials

• dead leaves
• dry brown materials
• sawdust
• shredded or scrunched up paper/card
• twigs

Food waste digesters

A food waste digester can be filled with kitchen waste such as bones, meat, fish, bread, rice, cake, and food that will break down. They offer an environmentally friendly way to dispose of your food waste while producing a high-quality, organic compost or liquid feed as an added benefit for your garden.

The Green Johanna compost bin is designed to sit in a shady part of the garden. The temperature inside remains higher than the outside temperature. You can put all cooked and uncooked food waste, as well as a proportion of your garden waste (one part garden waste, two parts food is the ideal mix). It produces rich compost in four to six months, which can be used in the garden.

The Green Cone (available from Get Composting) is designed to sit in a sunny position throughout the year on well-drained earth and needs to be dug into the garden. You can put all cooked and uncooked food waste into the underground digestion chamber, but not garden waste. The food degrades below the ground level, reducing the contents to their natural components of water and carbon dioxide. These seep out into the surrounding garden and soil, therefore acting as a natural, liquid fertiliser for your garden.

As a Maidstone resident, you are entitled to purchase a food digester at a discounted price from Great Green Systems.