Composting in Brussels

Friendly reminder for some lost city folk: composting is when you transform your organic waste (fruit and vegetable peels, herbs, egg shells…) into fertile ground that is ready to nourish your plants.

What if you don’t have a garden? Don’t give up the composting dream. There are solutions.

Collective composting

If you are surrounded by the four walls of your apartment but want to do something for the environment and meet your neighbors at the same time? Try out collective composting, also known as neighborhood composting.

You can join an existing group or motivate other people in your neighborhood to start up your own project. To start, you will need to find some land (private or public), establish rules for efficient management, and a little elbow grease.

Bruxelles-environnement is able to give financial support. You can also get all the information you need and training services in association with an NGO, such as Worms.

Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting is ideal for an apartment or house with a garden. This system only works for organic kitchen waste, and worms do all the magic. Don’t be grossed out, a vermicompost is completely sealed and easy to keep up. You can put it in your garage, on your balcony, on your terrace, in your basement, in a courtyard…

Put raw vegetable and fruit peels, coffee pads or filters (already ripped up), tea pads, wilted flowers, paper towels, or colorless napkins. Important note: meat leftovers, fish, cooked meals, egg shells, sauces, and bread are not compostable with this system.

After the worms do the sorting, you recuperate a liquid that percolates through the holes in the bottom of your bin. You can use this as a natural fertilizer.

Master composter to the rescue

To help you with your composting mission, you can call on a “master-composter”. To help you get started or to solve a composting problem, don’t hesitate to benefit from the experience and knowledge of a “master-composter” in your neighborhood.

If you still can’t manage, take a look around the center for waste recycling in Forest where you can buy a 40 liter compost bag produced from green waste.