What to Compost, How to Compost, and Why Compost

100 billion pounds of food waste are discarded every year, that is almost 25% of all our food. Additional waste is created at processing plants and farms. Rotting food creates methane, a terrible greenhouse gas. Someday trash dumps will recover all this gas.  Right now, you can turn food scraps into useful matter by composting. Most local recycling programs do not support composting. Most are located in California. If your local sanitation department does not have a composting program, you can do it yourself.

What is Composting?

Composting is utilizing mother nature in turning food scraps and yard trimmings into super nutrient rich soil. It helps reduce waste and produces the best growing soil around.  Backyard composting is good for gardeners and those who have lots of yard trimmings and some produce scraps.

You know composting is going mainstream when you see Costco is selling several composters. Even Amazon has a bunch of low-cost composters.

How to compost?

Here is a good guide to composting.  We find it a great way to reduce the amount of trash put out and a great way to make some valuable rocket soil for growing plants.

We put a container by the sink to collect compostables and later move them to our compost bin.

What to compost?

You can easily compost food scraps, vegetable and fruits. Also consider composting coffee grounds, tea bags, and the like.

• Bones, bread, grains, pasta
• Dairy products
• Eggshells, fish, shellfish
• Meat, Poultry
• Paperbags, paper cups, paper cups, paper napkins, paper plates,Pizza box containers
• Paper fast food burger containers, paper takeout boxes
• wine corks
• paper coffee cups
• Yard clippings including branches, brush, flowers, lawn clippings, leaves, and weeds

Our local trash company, Recology finally got with the program in 2011 and is now composting food scraps. Line the inside with newspaper or biodegradable bags.  Do not use plastic bags. Sprinkle baking soda if it begins to smell. Flies can be prevented with essential oils such as citrus, eucalyptus, lavender, or lemongrass dripped on the inside lid.

What Not to Compost

• Aluminum or Metal
• Animal waste
• Construction waste including concrete, asphalt, stones, bricks, wood
• Cooking Oil
• Condiment packets such as ketchup, mustard
• Diapers
• Garbage
• Glass or ceramics
• Hazardous waste including chemicals, cleaners, batteries
• Juice, soy milk, or soup boxes with foil liners
• Liquids or ice
• Plastics or plastic bags
• Sod, dirt
• Any Styrofoam

Here is our big compost bin.  It works but is not built very well.  The plastic parts come apart forcing us to relatch it every couple months.

This compost is the final result of our efforts.

Why Compost?

Composting allows us to turn organic trash into super soil. Although composting requires a lot of effort and time, the benefits far outweigh additional trash in a landfill.

CNBC’s Trash Inc: The Secret Life of Garbage helped remind us that garbage is everyone’s problem and needs us to be more responsible. New York City garbage gets hauled several states away to get dumped!

Compostable Cups at Everything Coca Cola

It is good to see that even Coca Cola is getting green. They are using 100% compostable cups in their beverage showroom.

The stores in the Grand Canyon are also using ‘Green’ bags. Did not really want this bag but figured we’d take a picture of one. The clerks were shocked that we did not want a bag.

Related posts:

1. Discount Compost Bins
2. NatureMill Automatic Composter
3. Recology New Recycling System with Composting
4. Targeting “Zero” Waste or Minimizing Trash
5. Disposable Diaper Composting Service
6. How to have a Green Easter
7. Eco Friendly Green Dog Waste Disposal
8. How to have a Green Father’s Day

Posted on October 27th, 2011
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