Q&A with Jim Chapman on composting with his Subpod

Q&A with Jim Chapman on composting with his Subpod

If you watched much YouTube between 2010 - 2015, you probably know who Jim Chapman is. For a while, he was one of the biggest British vloggers around! While he still makes the odd video, these days he’s living a bit more of a quiet lifestyle – writing, editing for British GQ and raising his baby daughter, Margot. And composting, too!

We were recently spotted in Jim’s Instagram story by one of our own followers, and we’re excited to say that he agreed to do a little compost Q&A with us.

As someone who’s always been very aware of the responsibility that comes with having a large audience, Jim tries to be a role model for positive habits whenever possible. We’re honoured that Subpod was the system he chose to start composting his family’s food waste with.

So tell us – why did you start composting?

I think most of us take our waste for granted. We just assume that food will biodegrade once we send it off with the bin men, but actually, a lot of it won't rot in landfill. It all gets packed so tightly that there is no air for the bacteria to do their work and so it just piles up and up and up. By simply removing my family’s waste from that equation and using a composter, I know that everything will get broken down and I get some nice compost for the plants.

Did you have any concerns before getting started?

I thought it might have been more complicated than it turns out to be. I had done some googling and it really made me overthink the whole thing. It’s really simple and it’s a process that has been going on for billions of years. It wants to happen and the conditions to make it happen are very simple to replicate. Make sure there’s enough air, moisture and warmth and the worms and bacteria will do their job!

What’s it been like to compost with Subpod?

Super easy! I chose Subpod after some of my googling because it looked like the tidiest, least invasive method. The lid keeps pests out and odours in and because it’s compact and semi-submerged, it doesn’t take up much space in my small London garden.

How has composting impacted your daily life?

It kind of hasn’t, which is the beauty of it. I have a tiny caddy next to my sink that I put my food waste in, and when it’s full, I take it into the garden. Once in a while, I aerate the compost, to make sure there's enough air circulating, but I quite like checking in on my worms. It’s really very simple. I love the science of it, so watching it rot away between visits and having a family of worms in my garden is great fun!

What would you say to someone who’s on the fence about composting, but worried it’s too hard or messy?

It’s not really any different to putting the bins out. You just take your waste to your back garden instead of your front! The only part of the process that could get messier than taking the bins out is when you turn the compost to aerate it, but only if you go bonkers and fling it everywhere, it’s clean and hassle free.


We'd like to thank Jim for taking the time to share his thoughts on composting! It's true that we tend to overthink and even overcomplicate the process when getting started. That's why we made Subpod! If you're interested in composting with Jim's setup, you can find the bundle he uses here.

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