Hi everyone! Most of you have probably heard of composting. Its a method of recycling organic items, such as vegetable scraps, so that they don’t end up in landfills. My family has a low maintenance compost pile in our backyard, and many other people have compost bins that they use to create nutrient-rich garden soil. Here I’ll answer some questions about the benefits of composting, what can be composted, how to compost in an apartment, and compost’s uses.
Why compost?
Composting is good for the environment because it prevents food waste and other organic material from going to landfills. Landfills take up space and produce methane that contributes to climate change. In addition, compost has many uses, including replenishing soil and nourishing gardens (Dempsey).
How can I compost?
Composting is fairly easy. My family has a low-maintenance compost pile behind our house where we throw most of our food scraps and yard waste, including egg shells, vegetable peels, and dried leaves. We ignore it most of the time, but occasionally we churn it and put some of its soil into our garden.
My family’s composting method is useful for anyone who has enough land. However, many people live in apartments or have small yards where they cannot keep large piles of rotting vegetation. Luckily, there are other methods to compost in apartments.
Composting in an Apartment
There are multiple ways to compost in an apartment, including old fashion bins, worm bins, compost tumblers, electric composters, and community composting.
- Old fashioned compost bins are fairly self explanatory. A person can buy one online or simply modify a trash can or similar container. A good size for a compost bin is three feet square. In order for compost to decompose properly without smelling, it needs a balance of browns, or carbon-rich materials, and greens, or nitrogen-rich materials. It is also helpful to keep one’s bin damp and turn it regularly (“How to Use a Compost Bin”).
- Worm bins are different than old fashioned compost bins in that they only involve putting newspaper, dirt, compost, and worms into a plastic bin. The worms process the compost, and the bins themselves are small. A good worm bin size is about 15 inches deep by 25 inches wide (Dempsey).
- Compost tumblers are bins that are turned by hand cranks. They are small and require less maintenance than old fashioned compost bins (Dempsey).
- Electric composters disintegrate compost by grinding it to a pulp. They have no smell, easily get rid of food waste, and process items that are difficult to compost, such as meat scraps and avocado stones. Afterwards, the byproducts of electric composters can be used as fertilizer. Unfortunately, electric composters are very expensive (Dempsey).
- Community composting comes in handy if a person’s apartment building or town has a designated space for it, such as on the roof of a building or next to a community garden. In addition, people can buy into composting services, which are similar to trash removal services.
What can be composted?
As a rule of thumb, compost is nontoxic organic material. My family regularly composts fruit and veggie scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, stale bread, dropped pasta, dead flowers, and hair, and occasionally composts paper and dead leaves. Other potentially compostable items include paper, yarn, and thread (“What CAN Be Composted in a Home Composting Bin?”). If a person is using a bin, they need to balance their browns, or carbon-rich materials, with their greens, or nitrogen-rich materials. Greens include fruit and veggie scraps, yard waste, teabags, coffee grounds, and manure, while browns include scrap paper, non-glossy newspaper, dry yard waste, straw, sawdust, and egg cartons. In general, it is smart to have twice the browns in one’s compost bin as greens, which keeps it from smelling (“How to Use a Compost Bin”).
Radical Composting: Terramation
Did you know that some people opt for their remains to be composted? Terramation, or human composting, is an environmental end-of-life alternative to burial or cremation (O’Donnell). It involves composting human remains in a steel vessel with straw, alfalfa, and wood chips to produce garden soil. Families of the deceased can take the compost home and use it for conservation projects or to start a memorial garden or orchard (Bush). So far, terramation is legal in Washington, Colorado, Vermont, and California. It is fairly new but is becoming more common, as evidenced by 1,200 people who have signed up to have their remains composted by Recompose, a company in Seattle (O’Donnell).
When is it safe to compost paper?
Paper is a helpful compost component because it absorbs moisture and is a source of carbon. However, it is bad to compost papers that are heavily inked, have special coatings, or have been in contact with man-made chemicals. Papers that are usually safe to compost include newspaper, printer paper, cardboard, shredded paper, greasy paper, plain tissue paper, and envelopes. On the other hand, papers that usually shouldn’t be composted include greaseproof paper, heavily inked paper, glossy paper, receipts, and any paper that has chemicals on it (“What papers can be composted and why?”).
What can’t be composted?
Anything with dangerous chemicals or germs shouldn’t be composted. Items to avoid composting include plants contaminated with herbicides and pesticides, diseased plants and leaves, pet and human feces, lime, coal, pressure treated lumber, and paper with excessive inks (“What CAN Be Composted in a Home Composting Bin?”).
Radical Composting: Composting Toilets
Although human and animal waste is too toxic to compost in a pile or bin, it can be dealt with by a composting toilet. Composting toilets collect human waste and turn it into a humus-like substance. Contrary to how they might sound, composting toilets are sanitary and odorless. They are also much better for the environment. They create a nontoxic fertilizer, while ordinary sewage systems frequently create water pollution. In addition, they greatly reduce water consumption since flush toilets are responsible for around 30% of households’ water usage. The toilets can be either portable or permanent and are especially useful in remote places that have neither town sewer systems nor septic tanks (Vartan).
Some items are bad to compost, but are not necessarily bad for the environment. Pine needles, wood ash, and charcoal shouldn’t be added to a compost pile because they decompose poorly and are not good for new soil. In addition, animal products can technically be composted, but are usually not because they smell and attract animals. Products that are not typically put in compost include meat, fish, bones, dairy, eggs, and grease (“What CAN Be Composted in a Home Composting Bin?”). Other reasons most people avoid composting meat are that mushy meat restricts airflow and feeds anaerobic bacteria that produce unwanted odor and acidity (Boyd).
Meat: To Compost Or Not To Compost
Although most people avoid composting meat, it can be done in a compost pile that is hot and well-aerated. The pile should reach a temperature of about 140 to 160 degrees Farenheit at least once a week(Boyd). While 140 to 160 degrees Farenheit sounds extreme, bacteria will naturally heat up compost to over 130 degrees Farenheit as long as the pile has a good balance of greens and browns and is around 3 feet deep (“How do I heat up my compost pile?”). Before a person puts raw meat in their compost, they should precook it to kill E. coli and other dangerous bacteria and cut it into small pieces. It is important that they turn their compost pile frequently and keep the meat scraps in its middle (Boyd).
Conclusions
I hope this has been helpful for those of you who want to understand composting better and are interested in having your own pile or bin. I am personally inspired to compost paper in my family’s pile.
Sources
Here are my sources for this blog post. Feel free to look them up for more information!
Bush, Evan. “’I’ve always wanted to be a tree’: Human composting starts to catch on.” NBC News, Sept. 27, 2022, nbcnews.com/science/science-news/ve-always-wanted-tree-human-composting-starts- catch-rcna48653. Accessed Oct. 25, 2022.
Dempsey, Eilidh. “How to Compost in an Apartment: 4 Options and Tips.” Utopia, Sept. 29, 2021, utopia.org/guide/how-to-compost-in-an-apartment-4-options-tips/. Accessed Oct. 24, 2022.
“How do I heat up my compost pile?” Compost Guide, Jul. 20, 2022, compostguide.com/how-to-heat- up-compost-pile/. Accessed Nov. 17, 2022.
“How to Use a Compost Bin (Beginner’s Step-By-Step Guide).” Help Me Compost, helpmecompost.com/home-composting/implementation/how-to-use-a-compost-bin/. Accessed Oct. 24, 2022.
O’Donnell, Noreen and Meghan McDonough. “Natural Burials, Human Composting: Going Green Even in Death.” NBC10 Philadelphia, Oct. 4, 2022, nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national- international/natural-burials-human-composting-going-green-even-in-death/3381791/. Accessed Oct. 25, 2022.
Vartan, Starre. “How Does a Composting Toilet Work?” Treehugger, Apr. 4, 2022, treehugger.com/how-to-use-a-composting-toilet-5190290. Accessed Oct. 24, 2022.
“What CAN Be Composted in a Home Composting Bin?” NC State Extension Publications, content.ces.ncsu.edu/what-can-be-home-composted. Accessed Oct. 24, 2022.
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