The Ultimate Guide to Composting Garden Waste in New Zealand: What to Compost and What to Avoid

When it comes to composting, there’s a lot to love. Not only is it beneficial for the planet, but it's kind to your garden and your wallet, too.

Composting is a natural process where microorganisms, insects and worms break down organic material like food scraps and garden waste, helping to turn your cast-offs into nutrient-rich gold for your garden. Good quality compost can improve soil quality and water retention, leading to healthier plants that don’t need to be watered as frequently and are less likely to need chemical-based fertilisers for nourishment.

If you’re already a composter, you’ll know firsthand that it’s a great way to reduce the amount of rubbish your household produces. That means less pressure on New Zealand’s landfills and less methane produced - a harmful greenhouse gas released when organic matter decomposes, especially when this happens underground. And it also means less of your hard-earned money spent on rubbish bags or bin tags. But there’s a science to composting and there are some key guidelines to keep in mind to ensure yours is working as hard as it can be for your garden, especially when it comes to green waste. 

In this blog, we’ll be covering the ins and outs of composting garden waste. Read on to discover why sorting your yard waste properly is important, plus what to do with materials that aren’t suitable for your compost heap, such as booking Ezy Peazy’s affordable gardening services to help with green waste removal.

Contents: Composting Yard Waste - Your How-To Guide

• How Does Composting Work?
• What Types of Garden Waste Can be Composted?
• What Not to Put in a Compost Pile
• What to Do with Non-Compostable Garden Waste
• Garden Waste Compost: Key Takeaways

How Does Composting Work?

Once you’ve got your head around how composting works, the process is pretty straightforward. While some people use expensive, state-of-the-art compost bins, these aren’t necessary, and there’s a variety of ways to go about it. From using an old wooden box, creating a worm farm to digging a pit in the ground or simply creating a pile on top of your lawn, composting can be as technical or as basic as you like.

If outdoor space is at a premium, you can even consider the bokashi compost method, which can be done in a compact container on your kitchen bench – perfect for apartments!

If you want to dig into the details a little more, there are several organisations up and down the country that offer composting workshops, such as Auckland’s Compost Collective.

Here are some general composting guidelines to help you get started:

• Decide on your compost method. The two main methods are hot composting and cold composting. Cold composting is slower but requires little work on your part. Hot composting is faster, more efficient and produces a better end-product, but requires more active management
   
• If you’re composting in your garden, put some thought into your compost site. Choose a spot that has good drainage to avoid excess moisture retention, plus a mixture of sun and shade. Full sun will speed up the composting process, but it will also dry your pile out
   
• If you’re using a compost bin, place it directly on top of your lawn as this will ensure worms and other organisms have easy access!
   
• Use a combination of carbon-rich brown waste (think things like, dead dried leaves, branches, cardboard and pine needles) and nitrogen-rich green waste (think things like grass clippings, coffee grounds, potato skins and other vegetable and fruit matter)
   
• The best approach is to alternate your brown and green waste in layers. A good ratio is two-to-four parts brown-waste to one-part green waste

• Place branches and any other large materials at the bottom of your bin or pile, to ensure a good airflow
   
• If you’re going to actively manage your compost pile, be sure to keep it moist (but not too sodden!). It should be similar to a damp sponge
   
• Put a lid on your bin or cover your pile with soil. This will help to speed up the decomposition process
   
• Check in on your compost every one-to-two weeks, ensuring it’s still moist and mixing it to keep it aerated
   
• You can add food scraps as you go, but the best approach is to bury these inside your pile, rather than simply placing them on top of your compost to ensure they break down properly
   
• Ensure you keep materials like meat, bones and pet waste out of your compost (more on what not to put in compost shortly
   
• Once your compost is black, crumbly and smells earthy – it's ready to feed to your garden!

What Types of Garden Waste Can be Composted?

From composting leaves and grass to mulch and branches - when it comes to yard waste, there are several types of material of the green and brown kind that are an absolute goldmine for your compost heap.

Green Waste Compost

Green waste is recently growing plant material. It’s typically more moist, high in nitrogen and breaks down rapidly providing vital material for microorganisms to thrive.

Here are some fantastic examples:

• Grass clippings. Just mowed your lawn? Composting grass clippings is an ideal way to give your pile a boost. With a high water composition, and a small surface area, lawn clippings break down quickly
   
• Fresh leaves. Dry leaves and fresh leaves are both great compost additions, with fresh leaves adding extra nitrogen to your pile
   
• Plant trimmings. Trimmed your hedges, have some wilted roses lying around or recently pulled out some unwanted succulents? Composting plants is a great way to bulk up your compost pile’s green layers
   
• Fruit and vegetables. Rotten fruit dropped off your trees? Put it in your compost bin! Fruit and vegetables are super nitrogen-rich, so don’t waste this valuable resource.

Brown Waste Compost  

Whereas green waste tends to be soft and moist, brown waste is typically dry and woody. Brown waste is carbon-rich and provides helpful fuel for microbes to break down your green waste. It also adds important bulk to your compost pile, allowing for better airflow than if you used green waste alone. For these reasons, it’s just as essential. Without a good mix of both, your compost pile might not heat up adequately, might take longer to break down and may start stinking out your yard!

Here are some great sources of brown waste:

• Dry leaves. Ever seen what happens to leaves on the forest floor? They slowly break down into leaf skeletons, eventually disintegrating entirely. Composting dry leaves causes the same thing to happen
   
• Branches. Branches are another great source of brown waste, but due to their bulk, they break down more slowly. Your best approach is to chop them into smaller pieces before adding them to your pile. Smaller twigs, sticks and bark can be added straight into your brown layer
   
• Wood chips and sawdust. Wood chips have a rigid structure, making them great for encouraging airflow, while sawdust can help to soak up excess moisture. However, make sure any wood chips or sawdust you add is made from untreated wood
   
• Straw and pine needles.  Straw and pine needles provide nice, dry, brown waste and don’t take up a huge surface area - but can take a little bit longer to break down. Ensure you balance them with the right ratios of green waste
   
• Mulch. Made up of much of the above materials – most mulch is compostable. If you’ve cleared a garden bed and you’re looking for somewhere to put old unwanted mulch, your compost bin will thank you for it!

What Not to Put in a Compost Pile

While most organic waste can be composted, there are a few exceptions, especially when it comes to materials from your garden.

Many of us are familiar with the types of food waste that really should be kept out of compost to avoid attracting pests (meat, bones, fish – to name a few items), but not so up to speed with the types of yard waste that should be given a wide berth.

Here are some of the common yard waste materials that could derail your compost:

• Diseased plants. Most experts recommend keeping diseased plant matter out of your compost heap. This is because, to kill diseases, your compost pile must reach a higher internal temperature than it would otherwise need to, and this can be difficult to achieve at home. When you put diseased plants in your compost, and then use this compost in your garden – you risk spreading these diseases to your healthy plants
   
• Weeds with seeds. Young weeds that haven’t gone to seed yet can be a great addition to your compost heap, adding helpful nitrogen-rich green waste. But weeds with seeds? These should be avoided. Many weed seeds can outlast wildfires, so chances are they’ll outlast composting too – and the last thing you want is to be spreading viable seeds all over your garden, giving them the perfect conditions to take root
   
• Large branches and thick wood. Large branches and thick pieces of wood take an incredibly long time to break down. These should be chopped up or turned into wood chips first before adding to your pile
   
• Treated wood. Treated wood contains some seriously toxic chemicals and these can leach out into your compost as they break down, turning your black gold into something more like black death for your garden. If you’re adding compost to a vegetable patch, this is even more reason to avoid treated wood – as you don’t want these chemicals ending up in your food
   
• Plants treated with pesticides and herbicides. Pesticides and herbicides can be toxic to the microbes in your compost heap, not to mention your garden. Adding plants that have been treated with these to your compost could  achieve the opposite result to what you want!
   
• Extremely fibrous plants. Flax, cabbage tree leaves, bamboo – while none of these are toxic, they’re extremely fibrous. This means they take a much longer time to break down than other types of garden waste – to the point that even some commercial collection services ask that you keep fibrous plants out of your green waste bin because they can get tangled in machinery.

What to Do with Non-Compostable Garden Waste

It’s all good and well to talk about what not to put in the compost, but what do you actually do with non-compostable garden waste?

From utilising your local council’s green waste collection, creating your own mulch for pathways and garden beds, using a green waste bin service to enlisting the help of a friendly local tasker via Ezy Peazy to help you with affordable yard waste disposal – there are a few different options you can explore.

Council Green Waste Collection

Local councils across New Zealand are increasingly offering green waste collection services, recognising the benefits this provides to residents and the planet. However, what councils will and won’t take varies – and you might find that your non-compostable garden waste items can’t be added to your green waste bin either!

Tauranga Council’s garden waste service, for example, doesn’t accept flax, pampas grass, bamboo, cabbage tree leaves or palm leaves. And our biggest city council, Auckland Council, doesn’t collect green waste at all.

Make sure to check with your relevant council website for what can and can’t be collected.

Create Your Own Mulch

Have a woodchipper? Fantastic! One option for your non-compostable waste is to create your own mulch. Keep in mind, however, that if you’re dealing with treated wood or plant materials that have been treated with pesticides and herbicides, you’ll want to avoid adding this mulch in your garden and stick to using it for garden paths.

Commercial Green Waste Bin Services

New Zealand has a plethora of green bin services. Depending on where you live, there will be plenty to choose from. However, like local councils, many of these restrict what you can add to your bin, too, with several excluding noxious weeds, bamboo, flax, wood chips and large branches. Make sure to check each website carefully before you book one of these services to avoid the hassle of arriving only to find out they won’t take your non-compostable items!

Drop Your Yard Waste Off at a Transfer Station

Non-compostable organic matter like noxious weeds can be dropped off at many transfer stations – with some even having specific areas for extremely fibrous plant materials. Waitakere Refuse and Recycling Transfer Station accepts a range of plant matter, for instance, offering different rates for fibrous and non-fibrous materials.

Similarly, many transfer stations are set up to deal with treated timber, where toxic chemicals and their environmental effects can be effectively and safely managed and mitigated.

It’s important to note that some transfer stations pose restrictions on what can be dropped off – and like other green waste services, some won’t accept fibrous plant matter. It always pays to check ahead so you don’t arrive somewhere with a load to drop off, only to discover they’re unable to take it.

While taking your non-compostable waste to a transfer station is a viable option for many households, for those who don’t have access to a trailer or vehicle for large loads, doing this could quickly become expensive and time-consuming.

Ezy Peazy Garden Waste Disposal

With Ezy Peazy, you can book in a hassle-free garden waste collection and disposal for whatever yard waste you need hauled away. Large branches, weeds, and extra-fibrous plant matter on your hands? No problem – we’ve got you covered. Thanks to our extensive network of professional taskers spanning the length and breadth of the country, affordable, reliable garden services are at your fingertips.

With our innovative platform, you can post a job free of charge, detailing the requirements of the task you need taken care of, your preferred budget, location and timeframe for completion. Then simply sit back while you wait for quotes from taskers near you. There’s no obligation to accept any of the offers you receive -  but if, and when you do, your payment is secured and only released once you’re 100% happy with the job.

From transporting your garden waste to community composting centres that can deal with more difficult to break down items, to dropping a load off at a nearby transfer station, your tasker will have the tools and know-how to deal with your non-compostable waste responsibly and efficiently.

Post your garden waste removal task on Ezy Peazy today and let us take care of the logistics while you relax!

• Garden waste removal in Auckland
• Garden waste removal in Christchurch

Garden Waste Compost: Key Takeaways

Composting is good for the environment, your garden and your wallet. It’s easy to see why so many Kiwis are embracing it! 

But not all organic materials are created equally – especially when it comes to garden waste, and there are some key items most composting experts recommend you avoid adding to your pile if you want to get the best out of it. Weeds, treated timber, and fibrous plants all pose a problem – and it can be hard to know how to deal with them.

 If you’ve recently finished a yard clean up and are left wondering what to do with the garden waste that’s not destined for your compost heap, Ezy Peazy has you covered. Unlike many green waste collection services who pose restrictions on what they’ll accept, nothing is too tricky for our network of professional taskers to deal with. 

Whatever you’ve got on your hands, they’ll figure out a way to remove it responsibly and efficiently – so you don’t have to.

About Ezy Peazy

Ezy Peazy is an innovative platform that connects Kiwis with expert taskers to help get all sorts of jobs done. Founded in 2019, we’ve built a wide network of skilled, highly rated professionals across New Zealand.

From e-waste removal, gardening services and window repairs through home moving services, Ezy Peazy makes it convenient, simple and safe to find reliable help for virtually any task you can think of. With transparent reviews, competitive pricing, and a user-friendly experience, Ezy Peazy is transforming the way tasks are completed.