Cool Foods Campaign - COMPOSTING

Take a Bite Out of Global Warming

COMPOSTING

Composting is essential to successful organic gardening. Depending on your time and spatial resources, you may choose to make your own compost or to purchase it. If you are going to make your own, you have two choices: outdoor composting or indoor composting.

Outdoor Home Composting

If you have the space, an outdoor composting pile or bin is a no-hassle way to recycle food waste and create nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden. It is estimated that around 12% of all home wastes is from food, so composting can help keep biodegradable materials out of our landfills. The key to successful composting is aeration – lots of oxygen speeds up the decomposition process and helps it remain essentially odorless. Anaerobic decomposition (without oxygen, like in a plastic bag or a landfill) results in stinky chemical release as microorganisms come up with creative ways to break down organic matter in a world devoid of oxygen.

Methane is an example of a gas released in anaerobic decomposition, and is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. In fact, methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By turning over your compost pile regularly, using a system that allows air to get in and out, and alternating food scraps (including coffee grounds and eggshells, excluding meat and dairy) with layers of dead leaves or grass clippings, you can eliminate any concerns you may have over bad smells and keep methane-contributing materials out of the landfill. Compost piles can be easily constructed with a few pieces of wood, or you can purchase a compost bin. There are many varieties of bins, and many municipalities even subsidize the purchase of a compost bin. Check with your Department of Public Works or similar local governmental department to see if they offer programs like these cities:

New York City Compost Program

Boston Compost Program

Seattle Compost Program

Los Angeles Compost Program

Santa Monica Compost Program

For general composting information see:

Organic Gardening Magazine: Compost Guide

Mother Earth News: How to Start a Compost Pile

Mother Earth News: 10 Easy Tips

DC Urban Gardeners: Compost Guide

For information on building your own bin see:

University of Missouri Extension Service

For information on bin varieties see:

Consumer Reports Greener Choices: Compost Bins

Composting 101: Bin Types

Indoor Home Composting

If you still want to compost your food scraps but do not have the outdoor space, there is a great way to compost indoors in limited spaces efficiently and without odor: with worms! Vermiculture is a composting system that utilizes worms to speed up the decomposition of organic matter. Worm composting is a great solution for people with limited space, is environmentally-conscious because it cuts down on the waste you send to landfills, and generates sufficient compost for a window box or container garden. You can compost the same materials in a worm bin as you can in an outdoor bin; so fruit, vegetable and grain scraps are okay, even coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags, but no meat or dairy products. The most basic worm composting system requires only a plastic storage bin, a stack of old newspaper, and about a pound of red wriggler worms, available at bait shops or through various online sources, like The Worm Woman listed below. To get some ideas for other styles of worm bins and for more tips on worm composting, browse through our links below.

Coop America: Worm Compost Guide

Tips and Worm Orders: MI-based Worm Woman

Coffee grounds also make great compost – ask your local coffee shop if they will save you their expended grounds. Brown paper filters can be composted easily as well. You can also try Starbucks, who implemented a coffee ground donation program as part of their corporate social responsibility initiative.

Buying Compost

You can purchase compost at a local garden shop or nursery, but as always, keep in mind that organic compost is harder to come by, and that the term “biosolid” actually refers to sewage sludge; all of the solids filtered out of wastewater. This could be anything from household waste to hospital and industrial waste, often full of chemicals and hormones.

Organic Gardening Magazine: Tips for recognizing quality compost

Pogo Organics: Locally made organic compost for the DC Metro area

For more information on sewage sludge see Sludge News, a RILES project.

Next, see:

Manure

Mulching