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Can You Compost Pasta

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Can You Compost Pasta?

There are many food items you can add to your composter, but is pasta one of them?


Today is World Pasta Day, a day to celebrate, promote, and most importantly: eat pasta! Established in 1995, World Pasta Day is now commemorated the world over, with some people choosing to set up and attend events, while others just choose to participate by cooking their favourite pasta dishes!

Food is a topic that we like to explore, whether it's growing your own food, or composting food, we've got a large variety of items to help you on your way. Today we want to explore the topic of pasta, and specifically it's use in compost.



Composting Pasta

pasta

Both cooked and uncooked pasta is perfectly fine to be composted. However, there are a few caveats to this which need to be explained.

If you are adding cooked pasta to a regular composter you need to be aware that without certain precautions it will attract pests and vermin. Pests can make your compost ineffectual, and all your hard work will go to waste.

Make sure that your compost container is sealed tightly with no way for pests to get inside. You can also make sure that any pasta added is buried under a pile of carbon rich materials such as leaves or cardboard, this will make it harder for pests to access, and more difficult for them to detect in the first place. Use an aeration tool to mix the pasta deeper in to the pile.

Pasta tends to be cooked with meats and dairy products, you also need to be careful when adding these to your compost. Usually it is better to add these sort of food items in moderation, as they are very prone to attracting pests. Hot composters such as the Aerobin use a process which speeds up compost production, so this becomes less of an issue.

Pasta Sauce

pasta sauce

One of the most common bases for pasta sauce is tomato, tomatoes are acidic by nature, and acidic foods can cause issues when it comes to composting. Small quantities are usually okay, but anything more substantial will need an alkaline agent such as lime mix to counteract the PH level of the sauce.

Uncooked Pasta

uncooked pasta

Uncooked pasta is ideal for composting, as it won't having any extra ingredients added to it, making pests uninterested. Due to the size of some pasta varieties such as spaghetti, it is advisable to break them down as small as you can before composting, this will speed up the decomposition process. 

Maybe you don't have the space for composter in your garden, but that shouldn't stop you from composting. There are a few options available to you, with most being able to be placed right next to your kitchen bin, making it all the more easier to dispose of your leftover pasta!

Bokashi Bin is one of the most popular choices when it comes to household composters. With a sleek and ergonomic design, it's sure to fit in to your kitchen cupboard, shelf, or counter-top with little fuss, with no smells and zero insects.

 

Tips To Have A Sustainable Halloween

Tips To Have A Sustainable Halloween

Halloween seems to become more popular each year, with increasing numbers of families joining in on the festivities, it’s a time to get creative and showcase your spooky side.

Pumpkins are a natural and iconic part of Halloween, but there are also many elements of Halloween celebrations which highlight ecologically unfriendly practices. To help you have a more sustainable Halloween, we’ve put together some useful tips!

Carving a pumpkin for Halloween has become a time-honoured tradition, starting in Ireland, and moving to the United States via Irish immigrants, it is nearly impossible to not see one adorning a doorstep on a late October evening.

However, the use of pumpkins during Halloween has become a large source for food waste, with an average of 18,000 tonnes being sent to landfill each year, but there are ways to prevent this.



Food

pumpkin pie

It’s all too easy to forget that Pumpkins are food, with a large variety of dishes being able to be made:

• Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of the easiest quick snacks to make and taste delicious! Simply use the seeds from the pumpkin and place on a baking tray in the oven. Cook with salt or sugar depending on your preference.

• Pumpkin Pie is another popular dish, utilising the flesh of the pumpkin as a pulp to make the pie filling.

• Pumpkin pie leather (also known as pumpkin fruit leather) is made by dehydrating the pureed pumpkin, a great snack while on the go!

• Pumpkin soup is a nice and simple dish to make, and perfect for the colder months.

Composting

pumpkin

Pumpkins make ideal compost fodder, just make sure to reduce the pumpkin into smaller pieces before composting, this will speed up the decomposition process. This is even more important when placing pumpkin waste in to a wormery, as too much food at once can cause problems for the worms. It is imperative to remove any traces of candle wax from the pumpkin before composting.  You can even organise a pumpkin smash, turning a laborious chore in to a fun filled activity for the kids!

Most Halloween treats and sweets can also be composted but it is ideal to always use them if you can, pass them on to friends, or donate them if you can’t eat them in your own household.

Growing

seeds

Pumpkins are filled to the brim with seeds, and if you’re not looking to compost or eat them, why not grow them?

• Take the biggest seeds you can find and aim to keep around three times the number of pumpkins you are looking to grow, this will give the plants a better chance to grow.

• Dry out the seeds for roughly one week, before storing them in a cool, dry place. Pumpkin seeds are typically sewn in the latter half of April, starting with indoor growth, and then planting outdoors later.

Utilising the benefits of Pumpkins isn’t the only way to have a sustainable Halloween, you can also adopt an eco-friendly attitude to Halloween costumes and decorations.

The Benefits of Composting

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The Benefits of Composting

There are a number of ways to get involved with composting, from using a standard wooden composter, Wormery, hot composter, and more!


How To Compost

compost

  • First of all, you need a container to hold your compost (view our range here).

  • Secondly, you need a location. Different types of containers will work better in different environments, but generally you want a consistent temperature as much as possible.

  • Some composters are suitable for outdoors, such as larger wormeries and garden composters

  • If space is an issue you can also use a container design to be used indoors, such as a Bokashi Bin or similar items.

What To Put In It?

leaves

  • Generally a mix of brown and green materials is advised

  • Green materials includes kitchen waste, grass, and weeds

  • Brown materials includes wood, cardboard, and dead leaves

  • Lime can change the acidity of the composter if there is an imbalance

  • A wormery will need Tiger Worms in order to function

Maintaining It

compost pile

  • Depending on your type of composter, you may need to turn the materials inside of it to add air in to the mix

  • Some composters are designed with this in mind, and have functions to allow the turning more easily, such as the Maze 245 Litre Compost Tumbler

  • Wormeries have different needs to traditional composters, you can find out more about Wormeries here

Using Your Compost

growing

  • Once your compost is ready you can use it in a variety of ways

  • If you're growing vegetables and herbs, the compost can be placed around the base of these plants to ensure better and healthier growth

  • Adding compost to grass will maintain and improve a healthy lawn

  • Mix with soil for use with potted plants, adding additional nutrients to the plant

  • Flower beds can be improved with the addition of compost, giving the plants an extra boost
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