Bella Donna

Yeah, really attention-gripping title.

Does anyone compost in Oz? Should I be putting all my peelings in the domestic waste (as I am) or the recycling waste? Seems criminal not to recycle it...

Sue

Ialibu

Yep, we compost every 3 years or so. The trouble is it goes off and gets fly blown and the maggots get elected to Parliament.

NickyC

Doubt if you should put peelings into your recycling waste! Our recycling collection only includes bottles, cans and paper/cardboard.

Lots of people compost their peelings etc - we have a special compost bin that we use. You have to be very careful that you only put veggie waste in it - or they can attract cockroaches and mice.

Check with your local council - some of them give away compost bins for nothing. Some even give discounts on worm farms to help the composting happen quicker..

JerrySpringer

maybe she means the garden waste bin?
we're not supposed to put any food waste (fruit and veg peelings) in our garden waste recycling bin however.

Bella Donna

To be honest, I think this whole rubbish thing is a bit unclear here in Oz. We have two wheelie bins, one for recycling items that is emptied once a fortnight. Into that we are supposed to put *everything that can be recycled*. So you could, at a pinch, include peelings in that given that they can be recycled. We also have a domestic rubbish bin into which we are supposed to put everything that is *not* recyclable.

So....do I put our correspondence (paper) in the recycling? Not keen on that although we shred everything confidential/financial.

Do I put peelings in recycling? As you think, Nicky, I'm inclined not to.

Garden waste - I think this goes in the recycling, as long as it has no weeds in it? Weeds must go in domestic rubbish.

I like the idea of having a composter again - we used to have one in the UK, but back there, no-one was really sure if you should put eggshells or non-vegetable waste in. Never was sure about potato peelings for a start...

When we moved in, we had a mountain of rubbish for the tip. We were able to borrow a ute, and we got our vouchers from the estate agents and dh took the whole lot to the tip. Everything had to be scrupulously sorted, and garden waste had to be separated to exclude weeds. We were lucky because we thought our moving rubbish would amount to two or three vouchers, but they let us get away with one. So we have five whole vouchers to last us the year.....woohoo!!

In all seriousness, when we were composting and recycling in England we had only a small black bag a week, and that was even with indoor cats. So hopefully we won't need the extra vouchers.

Larissa

Hmm, dunno about the council recyling compostables... they don't do that here in Joondalup. I'm thinking of starting a worm farm as stuff takes longer to rot in the heat, its well worth separating organic waste as the soil is so poor here. I'm also thinking that a contained bin will keep the cockies and flies out, they are attracted to any rotting foodstuff, not just meat and fish. I so need a trip to Bunnings!

MrsDagboy

If there isnt a sticker on your bin to tell you what you can & cant recycle go to your local council website & have a look as they should give a list. Even better, call them & they should send you a sticker to put on the bin or a leaflet or fridge magnet about it.

I would seriously doubt if vege scraps were on the list :scared: , most councils limit it to glass & plastic bottles, newspapers & cardboard, tins & cans. Anything else that goes in is a no no