Here’s Why We All Should Consider Composting and How To Get Started [Week 12]

Posted On March 19, 2021

Composting is a great way of putting your organic waste to use.

Amanda Drews, 9 minute read

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We’ll cover:

• What is compost?
• What are the benefits of composting?
• Why is it important to compost?
• What can go in the compost?
• How can I start composting at home?
• Once I have my compost bin set up, how should I start to build up my compost pile?
• What should I do with the compost I create?

What is compost?

Compost is the result of the natural breaking down of organic compounds. Composting is a process while compost is the soil-like finished product of that process. It can be used as high quality soil for gardens, yards, and potted plants.

What are the benefits of composting?

Composting has many benefits both for your garden and for the environment.

• It’s a way for you to put your food scraps to use
• Decreased methane from landfills
• Good for your soil and the plants you are growing
• Puts nutrients back to into the soil
• Helps with soil structure which erodes more slowly with compost and assists in the uptake of nutrients

Why is it important to compost?

When organic material sits in a bag in a landfill and gets more trash piled up on top of it, it creates anaerobic conditions (meaning without oxygen). When the bacteria that live in these environments eat organic materials, they produce methane (CH4). Methane is over 20 times more potent of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming potential. When an organic material degrades in nature there is little or no methane released because when oxygen is present those methane-producing microbes are not active. Note: I’ve seen estimates between 21 and 35 times more potent so we’ll just say over 20 to simplify it.

Methane from landfills account for about 12 percent of the world’s total methane emissions according to Project Drawdown. This video from the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio, highlights some of the other sources of methane around the world both natural and man-made.

Methane is captured in some landfills and can be used to power communities but the range of efficiency for collection is huge and can vary between closed landfills and those still operating. A 2012 journal reports a 10-90% efficiency range with the highest capture rate coming from closed landfills covered in state of the art liners. They also state collection often only starts after the landfill is closed. It’s clear methane collection is not something we want to rely on when we have the resources to compost in the first place.

In 2013, the Minnesota Waste composition study showed 17% of our waste is food.

That’s a crazy amount! A huge amount of that can be composted instead of rotting away in a landfill and releasing methane.

And your food waste is not just the actual physical product that has been produced. It’s all the energy put into growing, collecting, preparing, and transporting the item as well which includes water, packaging and fuel usage.

Why should you care about composting, especially if you don’t have a garden to use the compost for yourself? Why is it worth your time to bag it up and drop it off at your community site? This is where the bigger picture comes in.

Have you ever seen this video of the journey of the strawberry that just ends up getting put in the back of the fridge just to be forgotten about and mold? It’s a great example of all the energy it takes to get that food to your home. Not to mention the fact that we often take access to food for granted. Not everyone is food secure.

What can go in the compost?

What can go in your compost partly depends on if you are deciding to compost at home or through your municipal site.

In our backyard compost pile we put:

• fruits
• vegetables
• eggshells
• grass clippings
• small twigs
• leaves
• woodchips
• coffee grounds and filters
• tea leaves
• nut shells

Here is what is allowed in our county composting site:

• all types of food scraps
• paper products that can’t be recycled such as greasy pizza boxes, tissues, brown napkins, and chemical-free paper towels
• BPI or Cedar Grove Certified compostable items including take-out containers

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For your backyard composting, leave out any pet waste, sauces, dairy, bones, ash and weeds with seeds. The food will just attract animals and could be a danger to pets. Backyard composting doesn’t get hot enough to kill the seeds from weeds so you would only be putting weeds back into your garden!

There are 5 main ingredients for a successful compost pile:

• A carbon source- these are brown materials like dried leaves, twigs or paper
• A nitrogen source-these are green materials like grass clippings and food
• Water-this may need to be added but usually there’s enough from the added green materials
• Bacteria-microbes already working in your pile
• Air-you add in air when you turn over your pile with a shovel or pitchfork

How can I start composting at home?

First, decide on if you are going to use a municipal composting site or if you are going to have a compost pile at your home. Or both!

If you are using a municipal site through your city or town, you’ll need to contact the group that runs it to see what resources they have for you. They can let you know where drop-off sites are, how to gain access to those sites, and what sorts of materials are accepted. Even if you have access to the site, it may be helpful to be registered so they know how many people are using the sites. They may even provide you with composting bags like ours does!

Second, figure out which tools you want to use for composting.

You are going to need a place to store your compost such as a pail or bucket. This could be one specifically for composting or you can reuse an item to store your compost in while it’s waiting to leave your kitchen. I got my bamboo composting pail from The Container Store. A big part of this is how you want it to look in your kitchen.

Some of the pails specifically made for composting come with filters in the lid to help with odors. I’m not convinced this really makes a difference with the one I have and it just seems like more waste in the long run to me. Maybe I’ll try to do some blindfolded smelling experiments to see since I have never not used them…hmmm stay tuned for that. Here’s what they are if you are interested and want to test for yourself:

You may need bag liners if you are bringing compost to a municipal site. I have found the free ones they give us at the composting site are too small, so I purchase larger ones. Ours requires BPI certified compostable bags like these:

If you are setting up compost in your yard. You’re gonna want something to put it in. There are loads of different styles of compost bins. Plastic, wire, wood, tumbling, and even worm composting! Take into account which style is going to be best for you. If I were planning on adding a pile, I would go with a tumbling style like this one just because it seems easier:

I have never used vermiculture (worm) composters before but here is one option:

Try looking on local exchange sites such a NextDoor or on Facebook Marketplace first to see if anyone has one they are getting rid of or put out an ISO (in search of) asking for one. If a used one isn’t available, check to see if there are any community events that have sales on them in the spring. The Recycling Association of Minnesota sells rain barrels and compost bins made from recycled materials!

If you don’t have a yard or garden but want to compost for your indoor plants, there are a few options for automated composters such as the Lomi by Pela. I have never used one of these so I don’t have any personal insight as to how they work.

Third, decide where you are going to keep your tools for composting.

We have a few systems to organize our waste in our home. For compost, we have a bamboo composting pail on top of our counter by the sink for our fruits, vegetables and eggshells that will end up in our backyard composting. Having the small countertop one visible not only reminds me to put food scraps in the compost but forces me to bring it out back to dump it and then I turn the pile while I’m out there. Otherwise I totally forget to turn it!

For all of our other organics, I keep a reused toy bucket in the freezer with a BPI compostable bag liner. Keeping this one in the freezer helps cut down on smells. The items in here will end up at the county site. In my garage I have a large bucket with a lid on a workbench and can fit 3 or 4 bags in there before having to bring it to the county site.

Helpmecompost.com has some good tips on where to place your composting site in your yard:

• Consider how far away the site is from your house for when you have to go out to turn it or dump your pail.
• Is it easily accessible to get to and to take finished compost out? You may want to put it on higher ground since finished compost is heavy. Higher ground may also drain better. Think about how you will haul your compost to distribute it.
• Is it far enough away from where you hang out in your yard or from your neighbor’s fence that smells won’t be an issue?
• Are there any city regulations on where you can place it?
• Find a spot where it will benefit from the warmth of some sunshine but can be a little shaded when it’s really hot out so it doesn’t dry out. If you live in a colder climate, you may want to opt for a sunnier spot.
• Protect it from the wind so it doesn’t dry out or so the top doesn’t fly off.
• Can you reach it with a hose to water when necessary?
• Do you want just one bin or multiple bins at different stages?
• If it’s open on the bottom, don’t place it too close to small trees as they may spread their roots into the base.
• Choose a level site with good drainage and place it directly on the soil.
• Does it look good?

In the end, chose whatever works best for you and your home! Make composting as convenient as possible so the greenest choice is easy.

Once I have my compost bin set up, how should I start to build up my compost pile?

You’ve got a compost bin in a good location with all the tools you need to start composting. So….. how do you start?

• Put down 5 inches of a carbon base (those are your brown materials likes twigs, dried leaves and woodchips)
• Add a layer of carbon materials (those are the green materials like your food waste and grass clippings)
• Try to keep it a 50/50 mix, it doesn’t have to be perfect
• Turn it about once a week. If it’s not reaching temps of 105-145 degrees F, let it sit longer in between turning it and add more green material. You can also add hay or straw to the top of the pile in the winter to keep it warm.
• If it is getting too hot and dries out, add water.

I have not used used a compost thermometer yet but this is the one I would probably buy since it has high ratings on epicgardening.com and I like that it shows you the temperature range you are aiming for:

What should I do with the compost I create?

If you’ve been on top of maintaining your compost bin, it should have a finished product in 2-4 months. Figure about a year or more for a pile that isn’t tended to (1). When your compost has a pleasant, earthy smell to it and isn’t sopping wet, it should be ready to use. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recommends your compost should feel like a wrung out sponge. It should basically look like a big handful of moist soil. You can now use your compost to fill in low areas in your yard, use it as mulch, fill your potted plants or use in your garden!

1). Decide if composting is going to work out in your home.

2). Figure out which type of compositing you’re going to undertake: countertop, backyard, worm, or municipal.

3). See if your community has any resources on composting.

4). Set up your composting system in your home and make sure everyone is on board.

5). Build up and maintain your compost pile.

6). Use your compost!

7). Move on to Week 13 with a more Eco-friendly Easter.

(1) Dakota County, Master Recycler/ Composter Program handbook, Fall 2019.