Imagine if you were to cover nine hundred football pitches, one metre deep, you would get some idea of the waste generated in Northern Ireland each year. With the use of brown bins across Northern Ireland, 30% of this waste can now turned into compost.

By developing compost from green waste, Councils are beginning to meet current and future EU targets for the diversion of waste from landfills. But the benefit of composting goes further than meeting targets set by Europe as it significantly reduces the reliance on natural fertilisers like peat which has to be is ripped up by mechanical diggers - destroying a unique natural habitat for many species of plants and animals.

What is special about the compost created from the green waste is its quality. In order to ensure that the green waste collected in your brown bins can be developed into compost there are a number of simple rules you should follow. Firstly, ensure that you only include organic materials such as grass cuttings, leaves, twigs, hedge trimmings, dead plants and flowers as these can be readily broken down during the composting process. Don’t put the plastic bags that you may have used to collect the waste into the brown bin and avoid putting stones and gravel in – it doesn’t make for good compost! Finally, information on brown bin collections is readily available from your local Councils – so don’t be afraid to use the resource to help the environment.