Charlie Albone: How to make the most of your Christmas scraps

I love this time of year. The smell of the Christmas tree, children brimming with excitement, the fridge full of food and the thought of time off work to laze around the house, beach ... and, of course, the garden.

I also get a wave of anxiety at this time of year though thinking of what gets thrown out in waste.

I like to make eco-friendly choices when it comes to purchasing presents for people, and I extend that to my choices in wrapping. When selecting wrapping paper try not to use anything coated in plastics — you can tell these by their shiny appearance.

There are plenty of recycled wrapping papers on the market, but I simply find craft paper is a cost-effective alternative. It can be added to compost bins and worm farms as it breaks down quickly, adding much-needed carbon to the mix. If you want, you can personalise it with ribbons and bows or even get your children to individualise the paper by drawing and colouring it in. The compost bin will be forgiving!

With some time on your hands and plenty of material to reduce to compost, take the opportunity to start a new bin and even expand on a worm farm. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach and I do love leftovers but there still seems to be extra food that gets thrown out at this time of year. All of this can be composted— even meat, bread and other food items you may not think about, like pasta and rice.

The issue you will have when composting these items is the vermin they attract. I hate vermin and would never suggest anything to attract them to your home and garden, so I go through a few steps before composting these items in a standard compost heap.

The first step is a Bokashi bin. These tubs can sit on your kitchen bench, or be hidden if you don’t like the look. You fill them with kitchen waste and as you fill, add the supplied fermented grains on top to start the decomposition. Packing in the food as tight as possible helps to boost fermentation and this fermenting stage helps remove putrid odours and breaks down the food quickly.

There is a tap to remove excess moisture from the bottom of the bin, an important feature preventing the food from rotting. This moisture is the same as a worm farm’s “worm wee”, so it needs to be diluted at least 1:20 with water before going on the garden. I would avoid using it on edibles as it hasn’t been processed or broken down by any bacteria.

Once full leave your Bokashi bin alone for a couple of weeks to fully ferment before moving it on. Having two bins is great as by the time the second bin is full the first one is normally good to move on. In theory, this waste can be buried in the ground to continue breaking down.

However, I always put mine through my compost bin system, just as a matter of habit. I don’t have much bare soil for digging holes — I’m addicted to buying plants, what can I say?

With my Dalek-style compost bins, I retrofit some vermin and snake-proof mesh to the bottom of them, wrapping up the edges and simply connecting it with cable ties to small, drilled holes. When placed against the soil this will mean the compost can have some much-needed connection to the natural ground making it difficult for vermin to get in. The lid seals the system and allows you to mix the Bokashi with your standard compost mix.

I also have a larger bay system for my compost (I compost a lot) and for this, the whole lot is wrapped in the same mesh, with the doors and lids on hinges that fit tightly together to make them impenetrable to unwanted guests.

The biggest issue people find with making their own compost is too much green waste, which includes food scraps, and it will lead to a scungy, smelly heap.

The answer is easy though: simply add in more brown elements, such as the excess eco-friendly wrapping paper you have to soak it up and balance the mix.

It doesn’t take much effort but with a bit of thought and just giving it a go, we can easily reduce our waste and anxiety around it all while improving our gardens.

Merry Christmas everybody!