I have always been a keen on composting – so much so, that I shudder if I’m anywhere and I see veg peelings going in the dustbin. I compost everything from tea bags to cardboard; I don’t include cooked food or egg shells until they have been dried out in a cooling oven. However, there is an issue which deters many from composting their kitchen waste – and that’s rats! There is no getting away from it – rotting food will attract them, and I know we’ve had them in ours. I always give the bin a good kick before opening the lid! We’ve now put chicken wire underneath our plastic bin, but I guess they will chew through that eventually. If you don’t fancy composting at home, many local councils have started kirbside collections of kitchen waste or you could set up a community composting group. There is help available from the Community Composting Network, who have lottery funding to run a series of training events on Community Composting for Local Food, or from the Master Composters