Eco-Tip Tuesday: Compost Happens

Now that it’s autumn, now is a great time to collect the bounty of fall leaves for composting that will ensure a healthy garden next year. For your soil, there is no better ingredient than compost, whether you till it into garden beds or use it as mulch around shrubs and trees. Considered essential to organic and sustainable gardening and farming, once it’s in the soil, finished compost—or humus—increases fertility, adds both micro- and macronutrients, buffers pH, and improves soil structure.

Composting is not only great for plants, but it can remove 20-50% from your household waste stream, reducing the burden on landfills while replenishing your lawn, trees, houseplants, or garden for free. Veggie scraps, egg-shells, grass clippings, dead leaves and more can be taken out of your trash and composted to make rich humus in about 6-16 weeks.

A compost pile can be as easy as starting a heap of veggie scraps and grass clippings in the far corner of your yard, but most people like to contain their compost in a compost bin. There are many different kinds of compost bins to fit every living situation: tumblers that make turning the compost easy, towers for urban yards and small spaces, and even worm composters that will make fast, odorless work of all your table scraps in the space under your kitchen sink.  Shop for Compost Bins >>

Once all the scraps have broken down and transformed into dark, rich-smelling, crumbly humus (see picture above), you can sprinkle it around your trees, lawn, garden or houseplants to help them grow. Considered “black gold” by most gardeners, even if you don’t garden yourself, you could easily give your compost away to your neighborhood green thumb!

The basics of composting are simple. Almost anything natural or plant-based can be composted; just don’t add meat or milk products because as they decompose, they will create a smell that will bring every critter for miles to your yard!

The following list from Planet Green is meant to get you thinking about your compost possibilities. Imagine how much trash we could prevent from going into the landfills if each of us just decided to compost a few more things. Here are some ideas to get you started:

From the Kitchen

1. Coffee grounds and filters
2. Tea bags
3. Used paper napkins
4. Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces
5. Paper bags, either ripped or balled up
6. The crumbs you sweep off of the counters and floors
7. Plain cooked pasta
8. Plain cooked rice
9. Stale bread
10. Paper towel rolls
11. Stale saltine crackers
12. Stale cereal
13. Used paper plates (as long as they don’t have a waxy coating)
14. Nut shells (except for walnut shells, which can be toxic to plants)
15. Old herbs and spices
16. Stale pretzels
17. Pizza crusts
18. Wine corks
19. Moldy cheese
20. Melted ice cream
21. Old jelly, jam, or preserves
22. Stale beer and wine
23. Paper egg cartons
24. Toothpicks
25. Bamboo skewers
26. Paper cupcake or muffin cups

From the Bathroom

1. Used facial tissues
2. Hair from your hairbrush
3. Toilet paper rolls
4. Old loofahs
5. Nail clippings
6. Urine
7. 100% Cotton cotton balls
8. Cotton swabs made from 100% cotton and cardboard (not plastic) sticks

From the Laundry Room

1. Dryer lint
2. Old/stained cotton clothing—rip or cut it into smaller pieces
3. Old wool clothing—rip or cut it into smaller pieces

From the Office

1. Bills and other documents you’ve shredded
2. Envelopes (minus the plastic window)
3. Pencil shavings
4. Sticky notes
5. Business cards (as long as they’re not glossy)

Around the House

1. Contents of your vacuum cleaner bag or canister
2. Newspapers (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)
3. Subscription cards from magazines
4. Leaves trimmed from houseplants
5. Dead houseplants and their soil
6. Flowers from floral arrangements
7. Natural potpourri
8. Used matches
9. Ashes from the fireplace, barbecue grill, or outdoor fire pit

Party and Holiday Supplies

1. Wrapping paper rolls (cut into smaller pieces)
2. Paper table cloths (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)
3. Crepe paper streamers
4. Latex balloons
5. Jack o’ Lanterns
6. Those hay bales you used as part of your outdoor fall decor
7. Natural holiday wreaths
8. Your Christmas tree. Chop it up with some pruners first (or use a wood chipper, if you have one…)
9. Evergreen garlands

Pet-Related

1. Fur from the dog or cat brush
2. Droppings and bedding from your rabbit/gerbil/hamsters, etc.
3. Newspaper/droppings from the bottom of the bird cage
4. Feathers
5. Alfalfa hay or pellets (usually fed to rabbits)
6. Fish food
7. Dry dog or cat food

More information on composting:

• Earthworks Boston
• Make Your Own Compost
• Planet Green Composting Guides
• The Little Green Guide to Composting
• Worms Eat My Garbage – How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System