Pitch In to Win: Join the conversation about composting
*** Congratulations to our winners schrader, dlysebo, and alison from our Hotline & @jennyhops and @kayleighneethling from Instagram! Thanks so much for your fantastic entries! ***
Our brand-new Five Two compost bin is landing in the Shop starting this Sunday 2/27 to help you take the next step toward sustainability. And what better way to welcome it to the family, than by sharing tips from our community. Composting can be complicated, so bring your questions and your tips and tricks. They’re all good for a chance to win a set of sustainable all-stars from our community-driven line.*
Here’s the Dirt:
- Five winners will receive one set each of Five Two Reusable Silicone Straws, Five Two Organic Cotton Reusable Produce Bags, and Five Two Compostable Sponge Cleaning Cloths.
- Log into your Food52 account. If you don’t have one yet, create one by clicking the blue “Sign Up” button in the top right-hand corner of this page.
- Enter the giveaway by replying to this Hotline post with a composting tip or question.
- You can also follow our Food52 Instagram account for a chance to win by replying through our Instagram Stories.
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*Food52's Composting Giveaway, Pitch In to Win, is open 02/25/2022 at 10:00am ET through 03/07/2022 at 6:00pm ET, no purchase necessary. Limited to residents of the contiguous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, only. Limit one entry per person, multiple entries will not be considered. Five winners will receive one set each of Five Two Reusable Silicone Straws, Five Two Organic Cotton Reusable Produce Bags, and Five Two Compostable Sponge Cleaning Cloths. Giveaway items are not transferable and may not be redeemed for cash value. Winners will be contacted via email the week of 03/14/2022.
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108 Comments
In some cities there are communal compost points, city compost pick-up, or a compost pile at a community garden. Searching online for your city name + "compost" can often help, and sometimes 311 in your area has info on this as well.
According to a bit of online research, dog waste IS compostable but your instincts are right that it should only be used for revegitation & landscaping, NOT for any growing project that will produce a consumable good (like a veggie garden).
Parasites and bacteria can live in pet waste for years, so you also have to keep any compost containing pet waste carefully section off so that your furry friends can't get into it. But with careful planning, yes, dog waste is compostable!
I'd love some suggestions on how to go about building space for backyard composting. I am aware of a few methods through my own research; a naked heap vs. a DIY garbage bin or pallets for example. I would like to set up a space for compost that shields it a bit from view and uses second-hand materials; rather than buying something new. Any tips are appreciated! Thanks:)
Congratulations on your new home!
Many hardware stores & grocery stores have wooden pallets that they are willing to donate or give away for home projects. You could repurpose the wood from those pallets to build a compost "box" for your home garden!
This article from our site is a bit older but still has loads of great, relevant tips!
https://food52.com/blog/2986-setting-up-your-container-garden-tips-for-apartment-dwellers-and-small-spaces
Even when I had a garden steps from my kitchen, I'd use an old /recycled coffee tin or large foil pouch to store items (used coffee grounds, egg shells, small chopped fruit or veggie discards).
Set it out on the counter to defrost and further compress the contents and you can really pack it in ! Wrap up defrosted materials in newspaper or paper grocery bags and take it off to the compost heap when time permits !
Bonus: coffee grinds can help deodorize your frig, so if you wish, pre-dry used grounds in the frig for a couple of days before freezing them.
For the speediest compost breakdown, balance is the key. Is your compost a balanced mix of green & brown matters, like food scraps vs brown, dried leaves? Too much of one or the other can slow down your pile. As well, being too wet or too dry slows things down as well! Making sure your compost stays a nice, light damp (not dusty dry or soggy wet) will help speed to process up too.
We have a whole article on how to get started! You can read that here:
https://food52.com/blog/23990-how-to-start-composting-compost-bin-at-home
This article from our friends over at EarthEasy has loads of great, relevant tips!
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/how-to-compost-in-an-apartment/
We have a great article on this! You can read it here:
https://food52.com/blog/23990-how-to-start-composting-compost-bin-at-home
Kate already got in some great tips here, but something I've found is washing your fruits & veggies once they come home from your grocery tip can help cut down bringing these little miscreants into your home space. Otherwise, keeping traps near your compost bin to preempt the problem (rather than getting them once it starts) is a good way to make sure the pests never grow in numbers.
With composting, the best way to fight odors is to reduce them from the start. Frequent emptying, regular washing, and keeping your bin out of the strong sunlight (which can warm it up) will all help. We also recommend keeping the bin in your freezer or fridge if you have the space!
We get two rounds of compost yearly: the winter batch is started in fall and rarely freezes solid in PA (we use a 3 bin setup) so that you can continue to add to it thru the winter. Though little decomposition occurs until springtime, it breaks down fast with warmer temperatures, and it's then time to start the second summer batch. We add egg shells, tea bags and nut shells too; while they don't all break down fully in the compost bin, they quickly do in the garden. It is, hands down, one of the best resources for healthy soil.
This article from our friends over at EarthEasy has loads of great, relevant tips!
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/how-to-compost-in-an-apartment/
This article from our friends over at EarthEasy has loads of great, relevant tips!
https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/how-to-compost-in-an-apartment/
In some cities there are communal compost points, city compost pick-up, farmer's market composting, or a compost pile at a community garden. Searching online for your city name + "compost" can often help, and sometimes 311 in your area has info on this as well.
Yes! We love & applaud the scrap-bag soup stock! One of the best ways to reduce & reuse.
My biggest tip is to sprinkle baking soda in the newly emptied bin and let it sit for a while before rinsing it out. Add vinegar if you're like me and wait waaaaaay too long to empty the bin. Takes care of any odor, especially if you like oranges as much as I do.
Love Food52 bins which look nice on the counter and clean up nicely.
In some cities or areas there are communal compost points, compost pick-up, farmer's market composting, or a compost pile at a community garden. Searching online for your city/area name + "compost" can often help, and sometimes 311 in your area has info on this as well.
In some cities or areas there are communal compost points, compost pick-up, farmer's market composting, or a compost pile at a community garden. Searching online for your city/area name + "compost" can often help, and sometimes 311 in your area has info on this as well.
Longer explanation:
Here's one...
https://www.greenmatters.com/p/how-to-know-compost-ready
Basically it's ready when it's ready. If your compost pile has largish chunks of recognizable "green" matter, it's not ready. Ideally it should look like the type of compost you buy at the garden center: earth-like without major chunks or lumps.
There are 8-10 major factors that determine the maturity of the compost pile.
I'm not going to regurgitate the entire article (and there are plenty of similar ones around) but compost maturity will be achieved when the "green" (nitrogen) materials are basically completely broken down. Smaller pieces help. Oxygenating your compost pile frequently speeds up the process (like turning weekly). Smaller piles will mature faster than larger piles provided materials that are hard to break down (like chunks of wood or animal bones) are not included.
Generally speaking an active ("hot") and well-managed compost pile might be ready in 3 months. A passive ("cold") compost pile might take a year.
Ideally you'd have several compost piles in various stages of maturity. Naturally that's how the big commercial compost piles work. They stagger production over several piles.
Anything that shouldn’t go in an indoor compost bin that would be fine outdoors? How often do y’all suggest a single person to empty the bin (without bugs being a problem)?
Thanks and excited to jump back into it!
Compost bins will take up a large amount of a typical household freezer which isn't particularly appealing. However you can freeze small amounts of food scraps. Realistically you don't want to allocate half of your freezer real estate to trash.
Hopefully this is helpful to someone!
Whether or not using curbside composting or taking it to a drop off facility, it's a good idea to keep a compostable bag in the freezer for keeping bones, meat scraps and other items that will get smelly after a few days. ;o)
Longer explanation:
Your community needs to care enough about the environment to make this happen. In a town of 1,000 households, if only 50 of them are interested in separating their food waste, the city isn't going to renegotiate their contract with the trash collection service to add composting.
This is no different than the original recycling revolution in the Eighties when some people started showing interest in separating recyclables (plastic, metal, and paper). Same with other issues like auto emissions, leaded gasoline, lead paint, smoking in the workplace.
Remember how the indoor smoking ban came about? It started in the Eighties by California restaurant workers (in more progressive cities) who didn't want to breathe second hand smoke. Unsympathetic people yelled "Find a new job" and many restaurant owners predicted they would go out of business if they forced their patrons to smoke outside. None of this happened and today there are wide ranging regulations for workplace safety.
But it starts with a few people caring and then more people caring.
California in general is aware and open minded to environmental protection issues and the voters tend to elect officials who represent those interests (hence CA Senate Bill 1383).
Remember that I voluntarily signed up to my city's multi-unit compositing pilot program. I was willing to separate out my food waste and pay out of pocket for compostable bags.
And food waste isn't the last battle.
Here in California you have to pay for a shopping bag (a lot of stores only offer paper). In the not too distant future plastic straws and plastic & styrofoam to-go food containers will be banned at restaurants/markets in the state.
Some people might think this is all crazy stuff. Those are people who haven't gone out on a beach cleanup with Surfrider Foundation or -- in our state -- fish out plastic bags in creeks on the annual Coastal Cleanup Day.
Summary: talk to your neighbors and get them to talk to your elected officials. There need to be enough people in a community to make this happen.
I filled out an online survey indicating that I was interested in the program and so did a lot of my neighbors. There must have been pretty good response from my fellow residents because there are 200 units in this complex.
In the six months of the pilot program, someone from the city routinely audited the food waste bin to monitor actual program participation and whether or not the voluntary composters were doing it properly. Additional signage was affixed when incorrect items were being added to that bin early during the pilot. Today it looks like my neighbors using the bin are mostly compliant with the trash collection service's guidelines.
The guy they interviewed said that the number one mistake *BY FAR* by consumers composting at home was the wrong carbon-to-nitrogen ratio.
Carbon is provided by things like dead leaves, newspapers, cardboard (sometimes referred to as "brown material"). Nitrogen is provided by food waste (a.k.a. "green material").
The correct carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is 3:1 and most consumers don't include enough carbon ("brown") in their home compost piles.
I can't compost at my tiny little condo but the garbage collection service has provided a food scrap bin which takes residential food waste to the processor's commercial compost operation. These commercial piles get hot enough to break down animal bones and meat so I include those in my food scraps, something you're not supposed to do with a typical backyard compost pile. I was one of a few voluntary residents to were selected to participate in the complex's pilot program about four years ago.
Effective January 1, 2022 California law S.B. 1383 requires all businesses and residences (including multi-unit complexes like mine) to compost all food scraps. The primary reason is to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change. So what was a voluntary pilot program four years ago is now mandatory.
I occasionally pick up free compost from the local recycling center operated by my garbage collection service. Better than buying bags of this stuff at the garden store!
Per the garbage collection service and my city, newspapers and clean cardboard should go into those respective bins. Food soiled paper can go in the green compost bin.
The countertop food scraps bin provided by my city (for the pilot program) has a sticker illustrating what should go into the bin.
Follow the guidance provided by your local authorities and/or the garbage collection service. They have different ways of processing food scraps and what goes in one bin in one town might go into a different bin in a neighboring town.
At least on our bins there's a sticker with pictures that shows what should/should not go into each bin.