Composting might seem like an environmental act, however, I find that in my sustainable homemaking, it’s a critical part of the self-sufficient life I crave.
Sustainable/sustainability:
- “Sustainable means using methods, systems and materials that won’t deplete resources or harm natural cycles” (Rosenbaum, 1993).
- Sustainability “identifies a concept and attitude in development that looks at a site’s natural land, water, and energy resources as integral aspects of the development” (Vieira,1993)
- “Sustainability integrates natural systems with human patterns and celebrates continuity, uniqueness and placemaking” (Early, 1993)
By doing as little damage as I can to the environment that my children will inherit accomplishes many things besides. Composting household materials creates a wonderful resource, hence compost, with which to grow food for my family today.
Two years ago, I became the owner of a rock-hard, clayish soil called my backyard. Today, my garden plot is full of rich, black soil that is full of large worms, has been cultivated aggressively with compost.
This weekend, I took a stroll around my home and found quite a few items that are biodegradable that you may not be away of.
Above, I started with paper….lots of paper, that continually shows up at this house. Mailings, bills, school papers, catalogs, kid’s drawings etc. can all be composted! You should shred, tear or cut paper for faster decomposition in your compost pile.
In the kitchen, this pitiful bag of chocolate chip cookies lays on the counter. I’m not quite sure what happened here, I know the “baker” who made these struggled a bit….ok, a lot. Now, I could probably find a recipe to make with these and I’ve been known to do that….just another way of “composting”.
However, I’m crazy busy right now in the garden so I’m going to compost them. Huh?! Compost cookies? Sure, as long as they aren’t a primary ingredient in your pile, they should break down just fine.
Now to the desk. Ah, the homeschooler’s desk is always a mess, but full of compostable items! Pencil shavings are wonderful to compost!
This is what my crayon box looks like, full of little pieces of paper and broken pencils, much of which can be composted!
After a good clean-out and reorganization, I had my “compost” items….
Can you see how sustainable homemaking can benefit your household? AND keep it cleaner….
Speaking of ‘cleaner’, what about the vacuum cleaners? Those bags and contents are compostable, assuming you use paper bags.
We use 2 upright vacuums along with a canister and all the bags, with the exception of a small rubber piece, are compostable. Look how much I’ve gathered in just a few minutes!
Your laundry room likely holds some wonderful ingredients for your compost pile, things like lint, tags from clothing, receipts and other junk from pockets as well as plant leaves can all be composted!
I frequently rummage through waste baskets looking for things I can compost, like toilet paper rolls and hair from brushes.
So, out to the compost pile I go to dump all of my goodies, look how much I was able to find in my sustainable household in less than one hour? YOU can too!
When I put a lot of carbon (browns) in my pile, I like to add a layer of “greens” to it as well. Actually, greens and browns should be at a 3:1 ratio to insure timely breakdown.
The wonderful benefits of composting are:
* You rid your home of rubbish and trash.
* You benefit your food production naturally and it doesn’t cost you a dime.
* You use your body to collect these things and deliver them outside to your compost pile, not to mention the energy you’ll burn turning your pile!
Added to….
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About kmorris
I had no idea all of these things were compost material! Thanks for the excellent info.
Susan,
You’re quite welcome, thanks for commenting!
I “know” I can compost a lot of this stuff, however I haven’t taken the time to do it. Sounds like I need to set up a separate can for household items to compost.
Barb,
That’s a great suggestion!
Kelly! This is an awesome post…so practical! I LOVE it:) People need to read this, so I’m sharing!
Good ideas! We already do paper, hair, nail clippings, and pet fur, in addition to food scraps not eaten by our worms or chickens. But I hadn’t thought to do the toilet paper tubes. On the shredded paper, it first takes a pass through the chicken coop as bedding, then we compost the used bedding.
Use those toilet paper rolls to start seedlings indoors!
Also, here’s a list of “99 things you didn’t know you can compost”: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/99-items-you-can-compost/?utm_source=scribol&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=scribol
Veronica,
LOVED that list, put in on the Facebook page, thanks!
So helpful, thanks!
I heard that some receipts are made with BPA and therefore shouldn’t be recycled. Can they all be composted or just the ones that are not made with BPA?
Melissa,
Well for goodness sakes, it’s always something isn’t it? I googled this….
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20011903-10391704.html
I guess it begs the question as to whether we want the receipt to be decomposed somehow to buried in land fills. I don’t like either solution frankly. Your thoughts?
I would never add paper that contains fillers and dyes and all that ink into my soil. Poison. I stick to natural organic unbleached paper products for my compost. I do, however, make homemade paper from the junk mail and pull outs from magazines to use in my artwork. I once made paper from nothing but those little cards that fall out of magazines and came up with a gorgeous gray/blue paper.
Tina,
Most publications are made with ink made from soy so no worries.
I don’t know if anyone posted this already, but you can also use your old broken crayons to melt down and add to homemade candles for color. You can even re-melt them (same colors together) to make large crayons again…
I have learned to try to re-use things for our household, before throwing them to the compost… that way we really stretch it a mile… 
Ellie,
Great comment! I used to do that about 5 kids ago, thanks for the reminder!
I live in a row of townhouses. My daughter and I just converted one of our old trash cans into a compost bin (drilled a ba-zillion holes in it); I want to make my own compost for my patio container garden next spring. Anyway, I think you have some great ideas about what you can compost, but I have a few questions….. 1) Will the paper (cuz we somehow end up with papers from everywhere) decompose quickly enough or do you have to watch how much paper you add? 2) I saw that you were going to add the cookies… Can you add just about anything to your compost? (I heard not to add meat cuz it takes too long to decompose) And lastly, 3) I just heard that I shouldn’t compost the foilage from my tomato and pepper plants due to running the risk of spreading disease and sickness to next year’s crop…. What do you do? Any other tips would be great.
Shawna,
Great questions! First, go easy on the paper and layer it with lots of “green” inbetween it. Tearing it into piecing or even shredding with help it to break down faster.
DO NOT compost meat or dairy, they will not break now properly, will make your pile stink and attract critters.
Turning and watering your pile will help it to break down even faster and of course, proper ventilation is a must. Sounds like the holes in your cans will help it to breath.
We could definitely put more “brown” in our pile. Thanks for sharing!