Composting in Schools

Composting is a fantastic way of recycling kitchen and garden waste and a great experience for children.  What’s more, a healthy compost bin is a wonderful resource for work on:

minibeasts habitats food chains interdependence adaptation helping plants grow improving the environment micro-organisms and decay

Composting is straight forward, but there are a number of issues to consider carefully before you start.

1. VOLUME and BALANCE

With free fruit for younger pupils, most infant/primary schools generate HUGE amounts of fruit waste.  Composting will NOT work with only fruit waste, so in most schools it is not realistic to expect to compost all of this.  It’s much more important for pupils to have a positive experience of composting than to compost every piece of fruit waste every day.

To get healthy compost (and avoid a slimy mess infested with fruit flies!) you need to add other ‘brown’ materials each time you add your fruit waste.  The ratio needs to be about 50:50.  Torn up cardboard boxes work well, and some schools have put a plea for wood shavings or straw in the school newsletter – you may be surprised at the range of offers you get from parents or perhaps local businesses.

THE GREENS	THE BROWNS
fruit and vegetable peelings	shredded paper
tea bags	cardboard e.g., toilet roll tubes, egg boxes
grass cuttings	paper hand towels
annual plants and flowers	leaves, wood shavings, straw

2. SYSTEM

Pupil involvement in collecting the fruit waste is important, but a designated adult needs to oversee the system.  This could be a teacher, LSA, caretaker or perhaps a keen parent.  Don’t just leave it to chance!

3. COMPOST USAGE

It will take your compost about a year to rot down, after which you’ll need to use it!  Home-made compost is full of nutrients and perfect for beds or tubs around the school. Please note that health and safety regulations mean that compost made with food waste can not be taken off the school premises.

GETTING STARTED

• BINS. Decide what type to use.  Domestic compost bins are usually available free or for a small charge from your local council.
• LOCATION.  Decide where to put your bins, ideally on soil or grass to allow the worms and other minibeasts to get in.  A warm sunny site will result in faster composting than shade.  You’ll also need to think about issues of access, both by members of the school and possible vandals.
• MICRO-ORGANISMS.  To kick start things, put some compost from an established bin at the bottom of your bins to introduce the micro-organisms.
• CLASSROOM COLLECTION.  Wherever the children eat their fruit you’ll need collection containers.  Many schools use washing up basins, or if you want a lid you could re-use the buckets in which powder paint is supplied.  Make signs to label your buckets so everybody knows what they’re for – a good literacy activity!  Don’t forget that the containers will need cleaning on a regular basis.
• COLLECTION ROTA.  Work out who’s going to collect the containers and empty them into the compost bin.  Don’t forget to decide who’s going to add the ‘browns’!
• OXYGEN.  The organisms living in the compost bin need to breathe, so giving the contents the occasional turn will make them much happier!
• FLIES.  If you do have fruit flies, leave the lid off your compost bin for a couple of days to let the compost dry out and the flies fly away!

TOP TIPS FROM OTHER SCHOOLS

• Don’t forget the school kitchen – they’ll probably be happy to provide cardboard packaging to be torn up and composted.
• If you’ve got a gardening club, make sure that they compost prunings, weeds etc.  If you haven’t, why not set one up?  You may have a keen parent who’d like to run it.
• Try organic accelerator, available from DIY shops and garden centres.
• Allocate the compost bin(s) to one or two year groups so that every pupil will learn about composting during their time in your school.
• Rotate composting responsibility around the classes, perhaps having a term each.

If you would like to share any successful ideas for composting in school please email us and we'll add them to this website.

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