Municipal compost

[Gary.J.Kelsey]

Hello All

I have recently received a 8 tonne load of municipal compost, the stuff that this made from garden waste (what is the name for it?). I was planning of spreading this on top of my existing beds and also making new ones from it. The last load was much further in the decomposition process, full of banding worms, however this load is much hotter (no worms). I put the thermometer in the pile to a depth of 12 inches and it is 67c.

So my question is, should I leave this pile as it is to continue decomposing and spread it Feb-March or just spread it now.

Thanks in advance.

[charles]

Gary best leave it to compost, its not ready.
The 80C heat of municipal compost makes it look ready (black) even while its immature. If spread now, it takes goodness from soil, I know from trying that.
Spread in March, even April.

[Gary.J.Kelsey]

Thanks Charles

You have confirmed my suspicions.

I have to confess, I have already, somewhat, started spreading onto existing beds, in a response to smoother weeds that I have allowed to get away in the last few weeks.

Therefore, once these beds get a good soaking of overdue rain, I will cover them over with tarps to speed up decomposition.

My new beds, on the adjacent plot I have recently taken over, don’t need to be ready till May/June, so I will wait till April to build them.

So back to the very large pile of municipal compost, would it help to cover that in a tarp as well?

Thanks again Charles

[Mateo]

Hello both

I’m curious about this access to municipal compost: Are you getting this from your local recycling centre? None of the places I’ve lived over in Hertfordshire or East Sussex seem to have anything like that. The place I live now basically sells store compost bags very cheaply, though they seem to be very old bags now. Are you going somewhere special to get such large amounts?

[Gary.J.Kelsey]

Hello Mateo

Most municipal compost (from my understanding and experience) , which is from household garden waste collected by the council, here in Stafford in brown wheelie bins, is then received by private companies and turned into usable compost.

You can buy different grades, i.e. 10mm or 20mm, which goes through a grader. You also receive them at varying states at decomposition. My first load was well composted, low in temperature and full of banding worms. My latest load was very hot, more twigs and covered in tiny flies.

The biggest draw back in my mind, is you do get tiny stones, dependent on the grade you buy and I find that annoying from a visual perspective, and I guess even at 19mm stone could fork a carrot?

I found my local supplier when I took up my allotment, as I was asking for compost sources. A company called Mill Farm just outside of Stafford. I bought 8 tonnes (20mm) at £12 per tonne, delivered to my plot by tractor and tipping trailer, straight on to my plot (lucky I am I know).

In between my two loads, a contractor who works for me, talked about another supplier he uses. This was not delivered, but was free. I collected it with a very small trailer (due to not having a big towing licence), and was loaded by one of the machines. However, this was a lot of hassle, petrol, time, 16 mile round trip, scraping compost out of trailer, and would have taken 8 trips for same tractor and trailer load, no hassle.

In the process on trying to find a contact for my second supplier, I did stumble upon a composting spreadsheet, but I can find the source now. Hopefully it opens okay on this site.

All the best
Gary

[Mateo]

What a great response, thanks!

[plantmark]

Mateo, I am in Hertfordshire and I called North Herts Refuse Collecting dept. and asked them who processes their green waste. It is Cumberlow Compost Services Ltd. I received my third truck load today. They produce a great product which is graded to 10mm with no stones or debris.
However, from your post it sounds as though you may no longer be in Hertfordshire. If so, call your local council and I am sure they will give you the company they use.
Mark

[Mateo]

I contacted my local council this morning and just emailed the company that does the processing. Do people use this because it’s better or cheaper than the bulk compost you’d buy from any other composting company?

[plantmark]

I cant say if its better but it is certainly very much cheaper than buying from a compost company. I contacted Sylvagrow compost and they quoted me £1500 for 10 cubic metres. I have bought 10 cubic metres of green compost for £200.

[Mateo]

I’m now very jealous as I just got quoted £130 for two bags including delivery within 10 miles (this is East Sussex). It certainly is cheaper given that many of the compost companies were above £70-80 per bag. I’ll keep them as a contact for next season, when I want to put the 1-2 inches or the allotment and garden!

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