We're fans of composting here at Apartment Therapy, and we've shared a lot of tips and tricks over the years. Recently, Networx put together a pretty big list of items (81!) that you can throw into your compost bin. It's a good reference for beginners or for those looking to add more to their bins besides the usual vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds.
Here are some of my favorites, but you can find the full list over at Networx:
1. Dryer lint
2. “Dust bunnies”
3. The contents of your dustpan (just use discretion)
4. Soy/rice/almond/etc milk
5. Nut shells (but not walnut, which may be toxic to plants)
6. Pumpkin/sunflower/sesame seeds (chop them to ensure they won't grow)
7. Avocado pits (chop them up so they won't sprout)
8. Old breakfast cereal
9. Popcorn kernels (post-popping, the ones that didn't make it)
10. Old herbs and spices
11. Cooked rice
12. Cooked Pasta
13. Oatmeal
14. Booze (beer & wine)
15. Wine corks
16. Egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
17. Matches
18. Sawdust
19. Fireplace ash (fully extinguished and cooled)
20. Burlap sacks
21. Cotton or wool clothes, cut into strips
22. Balloons (latex only)
23. Raffia fibers (wrapping or decoration)
24. Dried flowers
25. Fresh flowers
26. Dead houseplants or their dropped leaves (make sure they aren't diseased and/or insect-infested)
27. Human hair (from a home haircut or saved from the barber shop)
28. Pizza & cereal boxes (shredded first)
29. Toilet paper & paper towel rolls (shredded first)
30. Old loofas (real, not synthetic)
Note: If you bring your scraps to a compost collection site, make sure to double check what they do and don't accept.
Find it: 80+ Items You Can Compost at Networx
MORE COMPOSTING ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• All About Composting: Hot Tips, Best Bins, and WORMS!
• 5 Places To Put A Compost Bin In A Small Kitchen
• How To Start a Home Worm Composting System
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Great list overall. But dryer lint, raffia, latex? I don't know about you, but my goal in composting is to have soil free of toxins. Clothing, latex and raffia could have all manner of nasty stuff.
But I appreciate AT's composting articles in general; thanks to you guys I've now had a beautiful compost pile for over a year.
Fantastic article, justvwhat I need, very helpful thank you. Also agree with Emmi though,,,
Only appropriate if you have a fairly big (at least a cubic yard) compost heap that gets very hot and won't be messed with for a long time. Those things compost but not quickly!
Included in the 80+ list is USED tampons?!
Ewwwww tampons!?
i had the same reaction to used tampons. not exactly something i want breaking down in my backyard. the list is great though - a lot of things i wouldn't have thought of! we don't eat meat or dairy, so we basically compost everything we eat. it's awesome to only have one little bag of trash each week and our garden gets awesome compost!
I know someone who composted an old rug. I'm not sure I'd want to grow my veggies in that compost, but it broke down!
I was taught that some of this stuff is better to put into your industrial compost collection (if your city collects compost). Large-scale compost piles get very hot and can more easily break down some of the chunkier items on the list. The heat also sort of neutralizes some of the nastiness of certain things (like used kleenex, or I guess even used tampons according to this list). Re hair, we were told that if you chemically treat your hair, it's probably not good to compost it in a home pile (not enough heat) but it's ok for the industrial compost collection.
If you do high heat composting then you can put things like dryer lint in, as long as your clothing isn't polyester. With high heat composting you can put bones, fat, almost anything that is natural and will break down. This type of composting with kill toxins (like drugs) and give you amazing soil in far less time that the way most people compost. And you do not have to turn it at all, the heat (160 degrees) will cause it all to breakdown very quickly. To learn more- http://humanurehandbook.com/store/THE-HUMANURE-HANDBOOK.html. This book can be read for free on line if you search his site..
I love that you posted an over 80 compostable things list!
While I don't love the idea of adding used tampons, it does make a weird sort of gardening sense, many gardeners use bloodmeal and bonemeal as a garden soil additive. Blood is rich in iron which is something many plants respond very well too as long as the soil pH is appropriate for that plant. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't use either one, but I remember my mother using them in her gardens.
If you use a diva cup (or similar) there is no need to compost any tampons :)
It's easy to know what to compost. Ask yourself, "Is it now, or has it ever been a plant?" (Bonus point if you ask it dramatically like Sen. McCarthy)
Dryer lint: cotton = plant
Cereal boxes: pulp from trees = plant
Houseplants = plant
Balloons: latex, a product from a rubber tree= plant
It's not to say that animal products (including, ahem, tampons) won't break down - but it's going to take longer, and you'll need to watch closely to make sure you don't have issues with vermin and smell. Plant-based stuff you can just throw in a heap and not worry about it.
Oh, I don't think it's that simple at all. Sure latex was a plant before it was chemically altered, just like coal was once leaves from a bog. But I would not want latex in my compost heap any more than I would want coal in there.
There is now an indoor composter available that uses earthworms and is actually cute. It's called the City Bin. They are raising money on IndieGoGo now to go into production. I got one and can't wait to get it!
Here is the IndieGoGo site http://igg.me/p/84405/x/273821