JUne / JUly

6th June 2021 : : COMPOSTING ones old, used ecoYoga Mat

A slow cold start to the year of allotmenting in Edinburgh. Temperatures more consistent the past week and the insects now seriously buzzing.

i was emptying my compost bins a couple weeks back delighted to find worm galore and beautifully degrading yoga mat material.

I use reject and old ecoyoga material around my allotment and early last year had put a piece at the base of an old metal drum where i put my grass, tree and allotment cuttings.

A combination of warm temperature, air and good moisture ratio and the material breaks down really well. The yoga mat material used in this compost barrel was a couple years old from lying around on paths at my allotment so was quite dry to start. This degradation after a year is great !

Food stuffs breakdown quickly. In my compost bin containing fruit/vegetable cuttings, tea/coffee grinds and the like, the mat material has a slower rate of degradation. In such composts best to use the mat as a layer that can be maintained within, or at base, as you empty each year. Your mat will breakdown and crumble eventually.  Cutting ot into bits will not make it breakdown faster.

After i had emptied the compost from the barrel:

a good home:

little piece of coral red ..