CAIRO: You stand with a plate in your hands over the garbage bin about to throw away scraps of leftover food from your kids’ meal or some vegetable peals, and you think, this isn’t right, this is so not right. You often feel guilty throwing away so much food and knowing that there are people out there who would kill to have those scraps. But knowing there is nothing you can do about it, you hesitate for a moment…… you end up doing the expected, you throw away your leftovers anyway. But what if there IS something you can do to minimize your kitchen waste and curb that guilt? Composting at home is becoming popular in the United States and Europe. The idea of composting is to provide ideal conditions for your food and yard waste. It’s an attempt to decompose waste into highly rich, dark brown, earth-smelling compost for your pot plants or your lawns. Even if you don’t have any plants at home, you can compost your kitchen waste and give it to a friend in need or even sprinkle it over a patch of grass anywhere in your street. There are a variety of ways you can compost your food waste. Some of them are open systems which require a large backyard space, while others are closed systems which are more suitable for apartment dwellers or homes with limited backyard space. Such closed systems require the use of a bin around the size of your kitchen garbage bin with a few holes drilled in the sides and a lid that locks. You simply throw in it your kitchen waste and yard waste (e.g. dead leaves and straw) and place it somewhere shady and of moderate temperature. Every few days, you will have to sprinkle water inside it and turn the waste in the bin to aerate it. This is the slower method. It will take from two weeks to a few months for your compost to be formed. Alternatively, you can use earthworms to speed up the process. The worm-composting option may in fact be the best suited for you if your household produces a lot of waste quickly. You can have your worm-composting bin custom-made by a carpenter. It is simply a rectangular wooden chest with around twelve holes drilled in the bottom for drainage. You will first have to place a thick layer of bedding made of bits of well-moistened corrugated cardboard, shredded newspaper and/or sawdust and leave the bin outdoors for a couple of hours to drain out the water before taking it indoors, and place a plastic sheet underneath it. Then you add your worms and leave the lid open for a while until the worms move away from the light and into the bedding. To add your waste, you then dig a hole in the bedding, put your waste in and cover it over with more bedding. There is no need whatsoever to worry about your worms escaping the bin as earthworms die almost immediately if they leave the bedding and source of nutrients, and so, they stay well hidden. The great thing about composting is that so much of your household waste can go into your composting bin. You make your home a more efficient one as you reduce your waste and reuse some of it. What goes in your bin: egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds ,fruit cores, vegetables, pet fur, hair, leaves, shredded clean paper, wool. Things to avoid placing in your bin: meat, fish bones, scraps ,dairy products (as they produce foul odors and may attract rodents and other pests). Composting is easy, safe, clean and efficient. The rich, dark compost that eventually comes out of your bin is the most nutritious thing you can put in your garden. It eliminates the need for fertilizers, suppresses plant diseases and rids you of the guilt of having to throw away so much food. So, don’t wait! Get started today! Eco Options Egypt
