Well, of course, @bede, I do fish it out when emptying the heap, who wouldn't? But it is very wearing having to examine every shovelful for small bits.
Sorry to resurrect this old post of mine, but I have discovered what those little plastic strips are. I compost quite a lot of cardboard boxes - cereal boxes and the like. Many of these boxes have their tops glued together with a strip of stiff plastic glue and it is this which never composts. It's only taken 18 months of detective work!
It's easy to miss bits of sellotape etc too, no matter how carefully you strip the bits off. I often find those in the compost.
I think the soap powder has the glued bits as well @Collareddove. I take time to remove those, but I also make sure I split the cardboard boxes up to get all the soap powder out as well - just a tight Scot!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I try to remove all the sticky tape, plastic bits etc before I put cardboard in the compost, but inevitably bits slip through. Plus plant labels and the odd bit of litter that I've put in my weeding bucket - "I'll put that in the bin when I walk past on the way to compost corner" - of course I often forget.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
The long white strips look like old GC price/variety tags that they staple to plastic plant pots. I am always finding treasures in my compost heap. I keep an old bucket near the compost heap so just throw unwanted bits in the bucket and eventually transfer it to a black sack.
I think the soap powder has the glued bits as well @Collareddove. I take time to remove those, but I also make sure I split the cardboard boxes up to get all the soap powder out as well - just a tight Scot!
Other end of the isles ( at the bottom) Fairygirl but I do that too . A fair bit of powder gets stuck between the card layer/reinforcers.
I recognized those strips with colour squares on @Collareddove, only just read this thread. But nice that you have posted back to say what they are, it will save me wandering the house looking for them
The joys of finding the lost pruners or hand trowel in compost bins, is surely one of life's little pleasures
I have a bin for news offcuts we use for pet cage liners, and the worms love it, but for a while we had a fad for chocolate eclair sweets, someone kept putting the papers in that bin, and it drove me slightly mad to find little purple wrappers amongst the compost. Different sweeties are now favoured so hurrah , no more wrappers.
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I think the soap powder has the glued bits as well @Collareddove. I take time to remove those, but I also make sure I split the cardboard boxes up to get all the soap powder out as well - just a tight Scot!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I am always finding treasures in my compost heap. I keep an old bucket near the compost heap so just throw unwanted bits in the bucket and eventually transfer it to a black sack.
I recognized those strips with colour squares on @Collareddove, only just read this thread. But nice that you have posted back to say what they are, it will save me wandering the house looking for them
The joys of finding the lost pruners or hand trowel in compost bins, is surely one of life's little pleasures
I have a bin for news offcuts we use for pet cage liners, and the worms love it, but for a while we had a fad for chocolate eclair sweets, someone kept putting the papers in that bin, and it drove me slightly mad to find little purple wrappers amongst the compost.
Different sweeties are now favoured so hurrah , no more wrappers.