Composting makes sense from whatever angle you look at it. For a start, it is probably the most helpful and natural thing to do for your garden. Compost improves drainage, protects plant roots and helps trees and plants to replace nutrients. It increases the number of micro-organisms in the soil.
But it is not just beneficial for your garden. It is good for the environment as well. We think of recycling glass and plastic, but we do not look at food waste or garden waste in the same way. You should stop thinking about them as rubbish and start thinking about them as recyclables. About a quarter of the waste in landfills is garden waste and thrown-away food. This waste is natural and it is biodegradable, but landfills are not the right place for them. Landfills are densely packed, and there is not enough oxygen for them to decompose properly. That means such waste produces methane gas, which is about 20 times more poisonous than carbon dioxide. Methane is bad for the environment. If we can stop organic waste going to landfills, we are helping the environment.
For a beginner composter you do not want too large a bin - called a converter. There are plenty of models to chose from. Get a plastic one that is wider at the base than the top and which has a closable lid and a hatch at the bottom so you can take the finished compost out easily. Put it on bare soil if you can. This will allow any liquid to leach out. If you have to put it on concrete or a patio, put a layer of twigs and paper in the bottom so micro-organisms and worms can get in.
So what can you put into the compost converter? Basically, anything that can rot, although there are exceptions.
You want a mixture of 'brown' and 'green' ingredients. Brown ingredients are leaves, paper and card (shredded or cut up), eggshells, sawdust, hay, straw and teabags. Green ingredients are grass clippings, fresh hedge trimmings, vegetable peel, coffee grounds, plant cuttings and annual weeds. There are things you should never add because they will slow down or stop the process. They are: poultry and fish, meat and bones, dairy products, treated wood, fatty food waste, whole eggs and human and pet faeces.
Making compost is a bit like making lasagne - you work in layers. You start with about four inches of hay, twigs or straw at the bottom of the bin, and then a four-inch layer of brown ingredients. Then add a thinner layer of good soil. Then you put four inches of green ingredients and a thin layer of soil. You might need to wet each layer as you add it. Keep on adding layers until the bin is full. Once the bin is full, you turn it with a fork or a compost aerator about every 14 days.
For the compost converter to work properly, you have to have the correct ratio of carbon to nitrogen. One part green to about two parts brown will give you the right ratio. You can tell if there is too much nitrogen, because the pile will begin to smell. Just add more brown material to correct this.