Community Composting
Our community composts are a handy solution for people with little or no outside space, or who don’t feel confident to start composting at home.
We have set up over 30 community compost sites across Liverpool City Region in locations such as parks, churchyards, greenspaces, community gardens and alleyways.
At our public sites, local residents can subscribe to use their local compost for free. We provide lots of information to make sure people know what to do. As part of the set-up, we recruit Compost Champion volunteers from the local community to help us manage the sites and keep the composts well turned.
Our typical sites have three compost bins that are used in rotation. We sometimes add tiger worms (eisenia fetida) to speed up the process.
We also set up composting systems for housing associations, businesses, community gardens and residents’ organisations. Contact us for more information.
Be a Compost Champion!
For easy reference, download this handy flyer!
FAQ—Frequently Asked Questions
Compost is essentially broken-down food waste, so there is the potential for unpleasant odours. However, in a well-managed scheme, with a good balance of wet and dry contents that are turned regularly, smells are kept to a minimum and are rarely an issue when the lids are closed.
If you have any concerns over smells in your community compost, get in touch with us.
Tiny fruit flies are common in compost bins in the summer, especially if you are adding a lot of fruit and vegetable peelings. This can increase during the hotter months but you can manage this by adding dry materials, such as ripped up cardboard and paper, to the boxes. The fruit flies are rarely noticeable until the lid is opened. Turning the compost so fruit and vegetables are buried will also help. The flies are not dangerous to human health.
Many people are concerned about rats. Our bins are reinforced with ratmesh, which makes it nigh on impossible for rats to get in. Rats are also attracted to cooked food, which is why we only accept raw fruit and vegetable waste, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds in the bins. No cooked food, meat, fish or dairy is to be put in. If you have any concerns over rats in your compost, or if the compost is damaged so rats could get in, contact us immediately.
The average box takes about 9-12 months to produce compost. Members are encouraged to take some of the compost or share it with other scheme members. If there is spare compost, we will distribute it to local gardening projects.
You can spread the compost on the earth and lightly mix it in before you start growing vegetables or where you want to plant new flowers. Plants already in your garden will also appreciate having some compost in the spring, particularly if the soil isn’t very good. For members without gardens, plants in your yard or indoors love a top-up of fresh compost every now and then.
If you notice any damage to the community compost bins, get in touch with us and let us know the location of the damaged site.
Compost Works will give members plenty of advice and information on composting. Being part of a community compost scheme is a great way of connecting with and getting to know your neighbours and members of your community, whilst doing something beneficial for our environment. You might even come up with communal growing activities with the compost you have produced!
Are you interested in a community compost near you? Get in touch with us!