Kitchen scraps don’t need to go to waste if you can recycle organics at home
For many gardeners, it’s a spring ritual to spread a load of compost on awakening gardens. Then, after wiping sweat from their brows, they vow to skip the delivery fee and make their own compost next year.
Why not this year?
Composting can seem intimidating and complicated if you’ve never tried it before. Universities offer entire extension courses in it. Garden centers have dizzying arrays of devices and products intended to facilitate it. And doesn’t it smell?
Fear not, because backyard composting can be as simple or involved as you want it to be. It offers a beneficial use of your kitchen scraps and organic waste while providing a nutrient-rich additive to garden soil. Options are available regardless of where you live. And it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.
Before building your pile
Let’s start with those kitchen scraps. While some, like vegetable peelings, are inevitable, others are less so. Consider your moldy leftovers or those berries that are well past their prime; they’re headed for the compost now, but that’s far less of a benefit than eating them in the first place.
Growing food requires — literally — tons of resources: everything from water and fertilizer to the diesel that fuels the tractor that harvests the crops. Using those resources has a big impact on the environment. According to Annika Bergen, a senior state program administrator with the MPCA, preventing one ton of food from going to waste — which also means preventing the resources that went into producing that food from going to waste — saves about 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions than composting that same amount of food.
So before you think about building a backyard compost pile, think about how you can reduce your food waste. Shop your fridge before shopping the grocery store. Buy only what you and your household will eat. Freeze, reheat — or share! — good leftovers before they become an inadvertent science experiment.
What goes in and what doesn’t?
Anything organic can be composted, but some items work better in backyard composting than others. Vegetables and fruits are as good for your health as for a compost pile’s health, so banana peels and apple cores work just fine. Eggshells and coffee grounds also provide good nutrient loads. A little bit of leftover compost as a starter for your new pile won’t hurt, either.
Avoid adding dairy, meats, and anything greasy or oily. These need heat greater than a backyard compost pile can produce to break down, attract unwanted visitors that make your compost efforts a nuisance, or produce unpleasant odors. Instead, set them aside for your local organics recycling service.
Similarly, you may see takeout containers or even cutlery marked as compostable. These are intended to be composted in industrial compost facilities; that compostable fork will take years to break down in a backyard compost pile.
What about yard waste and trimmings? Most work well, including pulled weeds and fall leaves, but don’t add anything that’s been treated, material from invasive plants, or pet waste.
How’s it done?
The magic of composting starts when a bunch of different organisms — including worms, fungi, and bacteria — start munching on organic waste. Attracting those organisms and keeping them happy is key to getting a good result out of your composting efforts.
One of the primary considerations in keeping those organisms happy is balancing the amount of greens (nitrogen-rich materials like food scraps) and browns (carbon-rich materials like wood chips, shredded paper, and fall leaves). The ratio should be about two or three parts browns to one part greens; you’ll know you got it right when the pile doesn’t smell bad and when it starts to get warm from the heat of decomposition after a few days. If it does smell, add more browns; if it’s not heating up, add more greens.
Those organisms, like you, also need air and water. You may have heard of the need to turn a compost pile, and this is why. As long as the organisms get plenty of oxygen, they’ll get to work. Without oxygen from regular turning, your pile could turn anaerobic, which means it’ll start emitting methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Aim to turn your pile once every five days or so; if it starts to give off a rotten egg smell, turn it more often. As for water, your compost should be moist enough to produce a few drops when you squeeze a handful; regular rains are usually sufficient to achieve that.
A good size for a compost pile or bin is about a cubic yard. Smaller and it won’t have enough organic material to feed all the organisms you need. Larger and you’ll need something bigger than a pitchfork to turn it.
Try to situate your pile away from your house but not so far away it’s an inconvenience to access or add material to it. Keep it partially shaded but also in a place where rain can fall on it to keep it moist. If you choose to put your compost in a bin, make sure the bin is ventilated and doesn’t restrict you from turning the compost.
As long as conditions are right, you should see the organic material you added to your compost turn dark brown after a few months. Sift it and give it another couple months to rest, then it’s ready to use in your garden.
Alternatives to the pile
Not everybody wants to or is able to regularly turn their compost. Not everybody wants to sacrifice space in the backyard for a pile. That’s okay: There are several alternatives that also keep your organics out of the landfill and provide the benefit of homegrown compost, including vermicompost (using worms to break down your organic waste), the lasagna method (stacking alternating layers of greens and browns to create a garden bed literally from the ground up), and a bioreactor (similar to a pile or bin but with perforated tubes to direct fresh air to the organic material). You may also want to look into community composting.
Apartment and condo dwellers have options too. If you can’t convince your HOA, condo association, or apartment complex to set aside some space for a compost bin, look for opportunities to put your food scraps to good use in compost efforts at a community garden or with a local farmer. And regardless of where you live, check with your city, township, or county to see what local organics recycling options like curbside pickup services and drop-off locations are available.
Compost facility locator
See all the MPCA-permitted composting facilities across the state.
Call ahead to confirm services. Some sites only accept certain types of materials, are only open to residents of their host community, or have limited hours of operation.