Composting food waste with a Green Johanna

A resident of  Newtown, BoA

It all started when my son saw a rat, and I began to worry about what I put in my compost bin. Well, I was careful not to put anything cooked in there, but we’re a family with two growing lads and we buy potatoes by the sack. We have a lot of vegetable peelings and other uncooked food waste and I really didn’t want to start putting it all in the rubbish bin. Never mind the planet - we wanted the compost. 

The answer was a Green Johanna, a buxom Scandinavian beauty of a compost bin, designed especially for food waste. It’s large, with a rat-defying solid plastic bottom and a screw-on lid. There are little holes in the bottom and at the sides to let liquid out and worms and air in. It costs about £100 but thanks to a Wiltshire Council subsidy, we got it for around £20. It’s best in the shade, so no need to waste a good sunny spot to house it. 

We put everything in it: fish, meat, bones, egg cartons, small cardboard packets and all those vegetable peelings – anything that will rot down. We also put in some green garden waste just to get the best mix, and avoid fruit flies. Our household rubbish no longer smells, and the compost produced is great. The one problem has been getting the finished compost out at the bottom, which is quite awkward and messy. Also, if it’s very cold, the whole rotting process slows right down and the bin fills up. So last week, we ordered another Green Johanna (cost now £24 including delivery), so we can fill one up while the other rots down and can then be emptied all at once. You now get a kitchen compost caddy with it, but we found this too small to be much use. 

So what’s it got to do with climate change? About a third of what put in our rubbish is stuff that rots down. If it rots in the airless conditions of a landfill site, this creates methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So get composting, see your garden grow and polish your halo…. 

You can see our two Green Johannas at the end of our parking space, when you walk from Newtown down to Barton Orchard past the Ropewalk. Feel free to take a look! 

Wiltshire Council also provides a subsidy for Green Cones. You can put all your food waste in these too and they are slightly cheaper, but you don’t get any compost at the end. For details of both, see www.greencone.com/greencone.asp  Just put in your postcode to get the council subsidy.   

Jane has lived in Bradford on Avon since the early 80s, and is an active member of Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon. Her New Year’s resolution is to expand her vegetable garden and have lots more long leisurely meals with plenty of artichokes, new potatoes and home-made mayonnaise.