I've been composting for many years with no real problems with rats although I'm lucky with a high cat population which I assume keep things under control (just) - I do know the London borough I live in does have a rat problem.
With regards as to what goes in - well everything!; from the obvious garden waste (shredded if need be) to the dirt collected in the hoover. Even breakfast cereal boxes go in with any shredded confidential waste - it just has to be left long enough (9 months for me) and kept damp.
We were given a compost bin years ago by the local council and it quickly fills with the usual kitchen scraps. Then about four years ago they provided wheelie bins for garden waste to be collected fortnightly. The curious thing is that they insist that only green waste go into them - no lumps of wood and definately no cardboard/paper. They also provide boxes for newspapers and magazines, glass and tins - but not cardboard. So I am pleased to read that it can go into my own composter rather that burn it or bin it with the household waste.
Re E White finding the egg after two weeks - we found one after umpteen months when digging a border and it was not a pleasant experience!
I've just spent a very enjoyable 15 minutes or so (I really need to get a life!) tearing up egg boxes, toilet roll tubes, etc. I've half filled our kitchen crock and they'll go in the compost bin tomorrow. Hubby is upstairs about to start shredding other paper also to go in mixed with the grass cuttings the next time we cut the grass. Everything else paper goes in the Council's blue bin. All it takes to recycle is a wee bit of time and effort - like my 5min trip today with the glass and cans - Mum takes the plastic cos she's handy for the plastic bank. We're a family of 3 and we put one bag (at most) of rubbish into our wheelie bin every week. I can't believe we were so ignorant and lazy about recycling just a couple of years ago - it's become routine now.
I compost just about anything organic that will rot with no bad results yet, but no meats as this will attract vermin. Wet paper and cardboard helps it on its way. I'm extending the composting bins,just wish I had such good fortune as Joe Swift with all the free wood and compost! Our council sells it back to us at £2.50 a small bag, perhaps I'm not as good looking as Joe.
We built two 4x4x4 bins last summer and have been adding everything uncooked that the school kitchens give us, bread, egg shells, even things with mayonase like coleslaw, along with all the lettuce, cabbage leaves etc. In the garden we chuck on everything we pull out of the ground, and I put the cardboard in. It has all rotted down marvelously, and much has gone onto our veggy patch. I haven't seen any rats, but I have seen some of the onion skins taken away and left by the fence!! Recently, when I turned the whole lot out, I was supprised to find lots of strips of plastic amongst the semi-rotted compost ... these turned out to be the sellotape from the cardboxes I had put in!!! Also, I found a box that was plastic coated that had obviously not rotted away. So, I will of course be far more vigilant from now on as to what is attached to the cardboard I put in the heap!!
Thanks Sarah. Great to hear that St. George's School Gardening Club are keen composters. Yes, do be vigilant about the type of compost you put on your heap, but it's surprising the amount of plain card and paper (no tape, labels, etc) you generate over the course of a month. Kitchen peelings can be wrapped in newspaper, and this composts well, along with egg boxes soaked in water. Recycling should be part of daily life for all of us.
I've started composting kitchen waste in a plastic bin but it smells really bad at the moment, is this normal. I have added composting agent. Does the bottom of the bin need to be open to encourage air flow? Any suggestions welcome
I now live and garden in Brasil, on heavy clay. Good compost is hard to buy here, so I make my own using all the things mentioned in other comments.I have constructed secure wire bins,to keep out monkeys, snakes and rats. The contents of the bins decompose quickly in the heat and damp, and the result is wonderful,black and sweet smelling.Composting is not a thing people seem to do here.
I would like to start a compost heap do any of you know what kind is best i have tried to make one ( it looks like a chicken coop). also I don't know how to get started and or have i made the right bin to put it in can any one help
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With regards as to what goes in - well everything!; from the obvious garden waste (shredded if need be) to the dirt collected in the hoover. Even breakfast cereal boxes go in with any shredded confidential waste - it just has to be left long enough (9 months for me) and kept damp.
Re E White finding the egg after two weeks - we found one after umpteen months when digging a border and it was not a pleasant experience!