Compost MakingGarbage is one of the most major problems faced by any metropolitan city. It is estimated that one kg of garbage is produced by each household everyday. It is found that most of the rubbish is kitchen and other organic waste, which is biodegradable. You will be surprised that these can be used to beautify the environment by organically fertilising our gardens. This is all possible by composting your kitchen throw away and other biodegradable waste. Here is how you go about it.What is compost?Compost is humus, the nutrient-rich, crumbly remains of decomposed organic matter. If correctly made, it is pleasant to handle and doesn't smell bad. The organic matter is broken down into humus through heat and the action of dwelling creatures (ants, bacteria and worms) and fungi.Who can make compost ?Anyone with a tiny patch of garden. You need a garden because the compost heap must stand in soil, so that worms and other soil animals can enter it.What can becomposted ?Anything organic can be composted: vegetable scraps, fruit peel, tea leaves, egg shells, bones, grass etc. You can even compost tough things like newspapers, old clothes and even straw mats. Since these things will take a longer time to decompose, they should be chopped into very small pieces before being added to the compost heap.How to compost?1. First you need to make a container. Take an old dustbin, remove the bottom (to let worms and ants in) and punch two cm-diameter holes in the sides to let the air in. Make a trapdoor near the base to scoop out the compost.2. Select an area of the garden where you can keep the bin. Now dig out soil from an area equal to the diameter of the bin and place the bin over the heap of dug-up soil.3. Set aside extra dug-up soil to cover food scraps. Start putting your kitchen and garden waste in the bin. All the food scraps added to the heap should be covered with torn, moist newspaper, soil or grass to prevent bad odours.4. Theheap should be kept moist, not soggy, by sprinkling water over it.5. Cover the bin with its lid or a sheet of plywood.6. Turn out the contents of the bin every seven to 10 days and replace it. This `turning' and subsequent aeration helps the decomposition process.7. It will take about three months for the humus to form. Humus forms at the bottom of the heap and therefore can be removed via the trapdoor, while more vegetable waste is being added to the top of heap.8. Be sure to remove any humus before turning the heap. The humus can be dug into your flowerbeds and flower pots or sprinkled on the surface.What are the precautions to be taken?If handled correctly (kept moist and turned occasionally), your heap should smell like wet leaves in a jungle. It should never smell bad.1. Don't add oily food if your heap is less than one cubic metre in size. Smaller heaps can't mask the smell of such food and so flies and other pests may be attracted.2. Don't add lots of orange andlemon peels to the heap. It takes a longer time to decompose and makes the compost too acidic, which in turn can harm your plants.3. Don't add cat or dog faeces to the heap. It may contain harmful bacteria which can survive the composting process and make your compost smell bad.If your heap is placed near plants, it may be necessary to add extra nitrogen-rich elements - green leaves, vegetables, egg shells. Micro-organisms pull nitrogen from the surrounding area to help break down the compost waste and this may leave the nearby plants starved of nitrogen. Adding extra nitrogen to the heap means the micro-organisms won't need to plunder the surrounding soil.Don't worry that you might create more compost than your garden can use. In such cases you can give the surplus to your friends who are struggling to feed plants on balconies and window sills.
