Personal Perspective
Hello, my name is Mourad Kara and here I share some of my personal views for home composting and how I combine other hobbies together.
I discovered home composting through trial and error for a couple of years. It took me around 18 months (between 2010-2011) to establish whether this is something I wanted to do and how much time, effort etc. I wanted to commit. Here I share the main concepts, aims and background of the MCL lab.
Like many things in life, home composting is not for everyone; you need to have the right setting (say minimum of garden space); then wanting to do it as well as the time, effort and energy to put into it.
I put together this website to express what I have done in home compost making; what worked for me (and not) and lessons learnt. I have a strong interest in STEM (Science Technology, Engineering & Mathematics); I am also keen on process design & engineering, so you might see some elements of this, albeit like for STEM in a light touch fashion - anyway, I tried to combine these hobbies & interests.
From the early years, I took a systematic approach to home composting in the garden and in my office by maintaining a large database and various dashboards to record and analyse the results and findings. That helps me keep a close approximation to measurements and scientific analysis as well as a pseudo controlled environment. The idea is to have an experimental focus with some scientific rigour in a practical and pragmatic way whilst keeping the fun into the hobby. I sometimes contrast these findings with reports from various sources, in particular universities and labs from large companies or regional authorities reporting on domestic (household) organic waste management.
I wrote these various articles and notes for friends, families, compost enthusiasts or perhaps those thinking about it.
In 2022, I wrote a report summarising the main compost activities for the first decade; a kind of facts and figures after 10 years. The feedback and encouragement received after issuing this note made me think of writing a revision 2 years later (think of it as “12 years on”). On second thought, I decided to make a website (online presence). Hence this website, started in February 2024 and currently under development probably till February 2025; when I expect most of the articles and content to be there. From there on, the plan is to then update the material and continue adding new content.
Thank you for visiting the Mellow Compost Lab. I welcome questions & queries, constructive comments & feedback, ways to improve this site or its content; and errors or omissions.
You can contact me by email:
