There are two main parts required to make compost from household organic waste; what is broadly & commonly known as

• Greens (scientifically known as Nitrogen)
• Browns (scientifically known as Carbon)

In our home composting lab; our main sources are:

 These constituents in greens and browns are specific to our environment and what we have at our disposal on an annual basis. Of course the list of greens and browns is much larger than this and other home composting might have a different list depending on where they live and have access to.

Greens

Grass and Boxwood (hedge trimmings) are also normally classed as garden waste; but they constitute such a large proportion of the overall  garden waste so we felt they deserve a special category each. The other garden waste (GW) from our garden and vegetable plots make up the rest.  Another (optional) green we use is coffee grounds (albeit black in colour); coffee grounds, like grass, are rich in nitrogen and quick releasers. We normally have large supplies by visiting nearby coffee shops and supermarkets.  Usually these latter are not difficult to obtain (except during the 2020-2021 covid pandemic).

 Here we can see three buckets, one with grass clippings, one with garden waste and the kitchen waste bin - ready to be shredded and mixed: 

 We measure the proportion of our greens that are fed to our compost bins. The pie chart  below shows the long term breakdown since April 2012 (to March 2023).  Garden waste in total making up ¾ of the greens (grass, boxwood and the rest of garden waste)  and kitchen waste taking roughly the last  1/4.  

Browns

We collect a large amount of Autumn leaves (AL) every year, between 23 and 35 bags (of approx 100L  each).  This takes place around end of October to late December in the quiet neighbouring roads and woodlands with large trees and plenty of leaves (such as Sycamore and Beech trees). We use between 15 and 20 bags of AL for compost (browns) and the remaining is used to make leaf mould.  The image below if from the 2015 Autumn  leaves collection (23 bags).