Composting

Nikita Rao
Mar 26, 2020
3 min read

Updated: Jul 13, 2020

It's Really Easy!

“The ground's generosity takes in our compost and grows beauty! Try to be more like the ground." - Rumi

WHAT IS COMPOSTING?:

Composting solves the issue of reducing the waste that an average person accumulates! It is incredibly vital because composting has the potential of greatly improving the state of Earth’s environment: "Composting can divert as much as 30% of household waste away from the garbage can." At the moment our earth is undergoing a crisis of global warming caused by the gross amounts of trash being produced and polluting the Earth. Composting uses materials (that would be thrown in the trash) that can instead be transformed to provide many essential nutrients for plant growth and therefore is often used as natural/organic fertilizer. Another important impact is how compost improves soil structure. This allows it to hold the correct amount of nutrients, moisture, and air!

HOW DOES IT WORK:

There are several methods for composting. However, in this blog i'm going in depth for one specific method. It is easy to do in your home:

Find a place to apply your compost in a garden bed, buckets filled with soil, or in your backyard.
Accumulate your compost materials over a week or more. This can be done inside your home by making a bin dedicated for compost materials.
Then apply layers of compost on top of the soil.
1. FIRST LAYER: Brown/Carbon materials- Wood, twigs, and straw
2. SECOND LAYER: It is crucial to alternate moist and dry. After applying the dry, then put the moist materials(greens/nitrogen)- food scraps, grass clippings, manure.
It is important to keep compost moist(but not soaked), so water occasionally. You can either spray water on your compost once a week or keep your bin open for occasional light showers, air, and sun! You can also put holes on your bin cover so the compost has access to rain and air.
Finally cover the compost
Then, using a shovel, turn the compost piles every week, so oxygen can reach all parts of the decomposing waste
Over 3 months - 1 year or 2, you should see healthy soil and maybe some worms- that is a good sign!

What to Compost:

To have the healthiest compost, it is imperative to have more carbon ingredients than nitrogen in your compost pile.

BROWN MATTER(CARBON):

- A lot of wood/paper: mixed paper, napkins/tissues, paper cups, cardboard, branches, stems, sawdust, egg shells, coffee filters/grounds, tea bags, and straw.

GREEN MATTER(NITROGEN):

- Green lawn clippings/leaves, fruit and vegetable scraps ( cooked or not cooked),

OTHER COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS:

- Baked and dry goods (pasta/bread/dough/nuts),

What to NOT compost:

Do not compost stickers on produce, animal meat/bones(you can compost, but it's not good for the soil), juice boxes, spoiled plants, grease/oil, cigarettes, ashes, used diapers, cleaner bags/dryer sheets, and pet manure.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

Before I even started to compost, I was told , "It is going to smell so bad" and "This is going to be so much work". However, I can honestly tell you that wasn't the case! The method I mentioned above is very manageable and by tweaking it a bit to fit your life, anyone can compost.

I found a trash bin that was in my garage and hadn't been used for years. I cleaned it up, and dedicated that bin for only compostable materials. I even put a "Compost Bin" sticker on it! I placed the bin in the mud room which is right beside our kitchen. I never really realized how much of our waste is actually compostable. It truly warmed my heart to know that all of this waste won't be ending up in a landfill!

I then found a large storage bin in my basement and decided that would be my compost bin filled with soil. I placed this bin outside in my backyard and filled the bin halfway with soil.

I also punctured holes on the lid of the bin so the soil/materials can receive a healthy amount of air, rain, and sunlight. After accumulating compostable materials for 2 weeks I put it in the bin outside in layers. I closed the bin and since it hadn't rained in 5 days I sprayed water in the bin and flipped it over so all parts of the compost can receive air. Overtime, I even saw plants growing in the compost!

There were several occasions when I forgot that I could put a piece of waste in the compost bin. Composting can only be perfected with time and practice, so hopefully you and I can master it!

I hope you found this informative and helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments by emailing me :)

Lets get green!

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