Composting Events

We have no events on composting currently planned. Please email us if you would like to know more about composting. There are various systems which can be viewed (by appointment) at Aurora B&B Shieldaig.

Ann is a Compost Doctor, Master Composter / Zero Waste Volunteer - so well versed in domestic or commercial composting and can advise on:

• Dealing with business food waste & relevant legislation 
• Domestic composting & getting the mix right
• Vermiculure (wormeries) 
• Trouble shooting

Aurora B&B business (3 letting rooms) composts arond  500kg (1/2 a ton) per annum of kitchen waste safely and quickly through an In-vessel compost system using a JuraKomposter - JK270. All this waste is generated in the kitchen on site and the resulting compost is used onsite (important to comply with the legislation) - the compost is put onto vegetable beds to grow crops.

The focus of in-vessel stystems is to safely reduce food waste that would otherwise go to landfill - where the issues are: cost of collecting this waste, the CO2 emmisions associated with trucking this waste beyond Inverness, smell in the summer whilst it sits in the bins, vermin & flies, the loss of this material from the soil (carbon sequestration), the toxic soup of leachate and methane production from its anaerobic breakdown in landfill.

When composting is at it's most efficient the compost reaches over 50 deg C & the volume of food waste can reduce by up to 90%, as most of what is composted is actually water. It is a waste reducer rather than a compost producer - the compost is a lovely by-product though!

One could argue that in our cooler, wetter, windier climes even in a domestic setting, some kind of vessel is required to compost, be that a dalek or Green Johanna. Open systems can work but only if you have at least 1 cubic meter of material to compost put together in 1 go in order to generate adequate heat. Think of 4 pallets on their sides roped into a square - that is about 1 cubic meter.

On-site to view there are:

JK270 in-vessel composter 
Wriggly Wrigglers worm bin 
Worm city worm system 
Green Johanna 
Dalek type plastic bins 
A pallet bin for garden waste and 
All the other bits & pieces needed e.g shredder, sieves....