composting is fun!

Wanna know something tragic? According the the David Suzuki Foundation, “roughly 40% of the waste in our landfills is compostable organic matter”. WTF? That’s nuts…and coffee grounds…apple cores…carrot peelings…you get the picture!

Wanna know how to make a difference? COMPOST! Composting is the #1 way to reduce your household waste and I can vouch for that 100%. We have been composting for just over a year and I am amazed at how much good, organic material from our kitchen is being diverted from the landfill and into our big, black beast in the back lane (aka the composter). Just one day’s worth of our food scraps and trimmings is enough to fill a small ice cream bucket. Multiply that by 7 and you’re looking at a significant amount over the course of a week. Believe me, your trash collector AND the environment will thank you.

A few myths about composting:

Myth - compost bins are stinky! If you compost properly, composts don’t smell. If your bin starts to get a little ripe, blame it on anaerobic microbes. While they are working to break down the organic matter, they can create a bit of a pong. To cut down on the anaerobic process, be sure to aerate your pile regularly. Use of an aerating tool every two weeks or so will create air pockets and actually speed-up the composting process!

Myth - compost bins attract vermin! Compost piles that do not include animal products or pet droppings will not attract pests. Fill your bin with plant-based materials only. This includes fruit and vegetable peelings/trimmings, coffee grounds, tea bags, paper towels, shredded newspapers, wooden toothpicks.

Myth – composting takes a lot of effort! Let me put it this way…my 12 year old takes care of most of the composting at our house. He takes the bucket of goodness out to the back lane once a day, dumps the contents into the bin, and returns it (empty) to the kitchen. My part is even easier…all I have to do is fill the bucket (and aerate the pile a couple times a month).

Tips to successful composting:

Balance your “greens’ with some “browns”. Adding dried leaves and wood chips to your compost pile will help to keep your mix from compacting too much and becoming anaerobic. I find that creating a layer of brown materials also helps to keep fruit-flies at bay in the summer months. Plus, it’s a little more esthetically appealing when you open the bin. (Not that it should matter…but it cuts down on the “ewwwwww’s” that come from the person opening the bin every day.)

Place your bin in a warm-ish spot. Compost breaks down best between 120 – 160 degrees f. Use of a black plastic compost bin in a sunny spot will also help to create and hold heat. (This is probably a good time to mention the “winter” issue. Obviously, a frozen-solid compost pile will do absolutely nothing. Rather than fill our composter with an endless supply of material that won’t break down throughout the winter, we toss our compostable scraps out in small biodegradable kitchen waste bags, separate from the household garbage. It’s not ideal, but it seems to be the lesser of two evils. Next winter, we’ll be introducing an indoor worm-bin to our happy family, which should help a bit.)

Resist the urge to water your compost bin. Compost should be moist, not wet. Remember those little “air pockets” that speed things along? Water will fill them right back up. If you think things are looking a little too dry…add more “greens”.

One exception to the “no animal products” rule: eggshells that have been rinsed, dried, and crushed can be added to the compost mixture with no problems.

…and how do you know when you’ve got compost? Compost looks just like good, rich soil…go fig. Also, you should not be able to recognize anything that you put in there…save for the occasional rubber band. ;-)

zip it!

When I was in Jr High, there was a girl in my class who we used to giggle at for (of all things) saving and reusing her paper lunch bag. Every day she would eat her lunch, then carefully fold up the paper sack, and take it home to be reused the next day. Had she done that now no one would have batted an eye, but back then it was one step above wearing a tin foil hat. I suppose she was just ahead of her time.

I was thinking about that girl the other day as I was standing at the kitchen sink rinsing out a couple Ziplock bags. I love the convenience of them, but because they can't be recycled, the only way that I can really justify buying them is to use and re-use each one about a million times*. Since I don't use them for meat and/or gross stuff, they literally have to be in shreds before I'll toss them. The two that I have in my lunch bag are practically ancient.

It's pretty straightforward, so I am not going to explain how to rinse out a bag (this isn't the famous instructables.com "how to refrigerate a banana" post). I will say, however, that other than using really hot water, the secret to success is all in the drying. You probably have something around the house that will work. I use a 10-arm stand that I think is supposed to be for displaying photographs. Wooden plate display racks, mitten drying stands, mini hanging clotheslines/racks, etc will all work. You could even use the empty rack in your dishwasher, but if you're like me, the dishwasher is *never* empty. Whatever you use, though, just make sure that the insides are not touching and that there is good airflow from the bottom.

Tip: if you are really going to go for it and reuse the heck out of your Ziplocks, invest in the thicker & stronger freezer bags, rather than the regular sandwich bags. They'll hold up a lot better and save you $ in the long run.


*And I am totally not exaggerating about that either. I am still on the same box of bags that I bought a year ago when I moved into my house. Some of my bags might even be older...as old as my tin-foil hat, even.