Easy Composting 101 For Dummies

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It’s Earth Month, Week, and more specifically, EARTH DAY today, so of course, my sweet little Inner Hippie is raising her Inner Hippie flag and can’t let this day go by without sharing something Earth-y with you, could I? No. Of course not. So here we go…the easiest and simplest breakdown of my composting process which can only be described in the most dumbed-down title ever–Easy Composting 101 For Dummies.

I have been sharing about my own composting journey for a while now, both in my blog posts and on my insta and I have received so many questions about the hows and the whys and the whats that it only made sense to me to devote one entire post to the process I use for composting. And the reason why I’m calling it Easy Composting 101 for Dummies is that I do it the easy way. Or, in more accurate terms, the lazy person’s way.

See, there are a ton of articles and blog posts out there circulating on the interweb which will teach you all about composting the right way. And by the right way, I mean the technical way. Truth be told, you should probably go read a few to supplement the science-y part that I’m going to gloss over like the true non-science person I am. I’ll link a bunch at the end of this article for you to read. But if I’m being honest, I’m not a technical composter. I’m more of a “let’s see what happens” composter.

But we’ll get to that in a few.

Let’s Start With A Brief Lesson On Food Waste

First, we’re going to start with the depressing facts, ok. But bear with me, it gets better.

Let’s talk food waste, shall we? Food waste is just what you think it is–the food we don’t eat that gets chucked in the garbage. Sure, not a huge problem when we look at it from an individual scale. But on a societal scale? Yeah. It’s a BIG problem. Here is a scary statistic: America wastes roughly 40 percent of its food. (1) Of the estimated 125 to 160 billion pounds of food that goes to waste every year, most of it is edible, though maybe not desirable given our, let’s face it, pretty spoiled tastes. This has an obvious environmental impact, but also a dollars and cents one, costing this country approximately $218 billion per year (2) and the individual family roughly $1800 per year (3).

On a humanitarian level, this is a travesty considering that 12% of our country lives with food insecurity (3) and cutting waste by just 15% could feed approximately 25 million people. (4)Yet I digress…

Only about 5% of all food waste is composted. This means that food waste is the single largest component of what we throw away. When we throw our food in the landfill, it produces methane as it decomposes, which is much stronger than all of that pesky carbon dioxide we talk about. (5) Meaning, it seriously messes with the environment, along with being an abundant source of freshwater pollution.

This means that the food we dump in the trash is seriously messing with our Earth.

But How Does Composting Help?

When you compost your food waste, either on your own in a backyard composter or through a municipal program (if available in your area), you are greatly reducing your own carbon footprint. I know. You’re scratching your head and saying, “what the heck is my carbon footprint, Meg?”

Basically, it’s the amount of damage you’re doing to this Earth on your own. Scary, right?

Composting your own food waste has a multitude of positive environmental effects, including (6):

• Organic waste in landfills generates, methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By composting wasted food and other organics, methane emissions are significantly reduced.
• Compost reduces and in some cases eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers.
• Compost promotes higher yields of agricultural crops.
• Compost can help aid reforestation, wetlands restoration, and habitat revitalization efforts by improving contaminated, compacted, and marginal soils.
• Compost can be used to remediate soils contaminated by the hazardous waste in a cost-effective manner.
• Compost can provide cost savings over conventional soil, water, and air pollution remediation technologies, where applicable.
• Compost enhances water retention in soils.
• Compost provides carbon sequestration.

Sounds good, right? But I know you’re thinking to yourself, “it’s got to be hard, right?” Y’all, if I can figure it out, you can too.

The Easy Way To Compost For Dummies

My own personal composting journey began with my Aunt Melanie. More of a friend than an aunt, we share multiple, shall we say, hippie tendencies. We are book-loving, tea-drinking, gardening ladies and we are not at all afraid to admit it. But, one way she always seemed out of my league was with her decades-long love affair with composting. I always thought it was so cool that she did it, but it seemed just out of my reach, like something I would start when I was smarter and less burdened down by the daily care of little humans.

Well, that day came last February and I decided, sort of on a whim, to dive in feet first. Like I always do. And got my first compost tumbler (I’ll list out all of my composting suggestions below). I am nothing if not a researcher so I hopped on Pinterest before loading up my first heap of scraps into that shiny bin and began to freak the heck out.

What if my ratio of browns to greens is off?

What if it’s not wet enough?

Or too wet?

What if it all dies and I fail?

But Melanie, who is usually pretty uptight about most things (her self-assessment, not mine), calmed me down and explained it in the simplest, easiest terms possible. She said, and this is a loose quote so don’t ding me for historical accuracy, “Seriously. I don’t think too hard about it. I throw my kitchen scraps in and then top it with a few handfuls of leaves. If it looks too wet, I add more leaves. If it looks too dry, I either hose it down a bit or add some more scraps. I figure it will all come out in the end, just maybe not at the fastest rate possible. But it’s a lot less stressful to do it this way than stress about ratios.”

Touche, Melanie. Touche.

But What Is All This Nonsense About Greens And Browns?

Composting is basically recreating the decomposition process that happens in nature, by mimicking the ideal environment for it to occur. Basically, to mimic this environment you need (7)

• Greens, also known as nitrogen-rich sources. This includes all types of food scraps, like fruit and vegetables, grains and bread, eggshells, coffee grounds and more.
• Browns, also known as carbon-rich sources. This includes uncolored newspaper, paper towels, leaves, twigs and more.
• Water
• Air

In order to get the proper level of heat (the chemical reaction created when decomposition happens), you need a basic ratio of 30 Carbon to 1 Nitrogen. Meaning 30 brown to 1 green. Sounds complicated, right?

It can be if you work overly hard to try and get that ratio perfect. But, if you take Melanie’s laid-back approach which leads with your own senses, it’s really not that hard. And given I am nothing if not lazy efficient, I tend to think her way is the best.

Now Let’s Get To The Nitty Gritty

Do I recommend composting your own food waste? You bet I do. There is almost nothing more rewarding than potting plants with the soil, often called black gold by farmers, you created from your own food scraps or having much less waste in your trash bin each week. But I also know it can be intimidating. So here is my own no-fail starter kit for in-home composters:

1. A Countertop Compost Bin: This is a cute little bin you put on your counter to hold your food scraps. They often have a charcoal filter to eliminate any smells and prevent you from having to go outside every time you eat a banana. This is mine and I love it.
2. Compost Bags: These are optional, but I highly recommend them. You are going to be tossing some less than desirable things in your counter composter. Coffee grounds make a mess. Banana peels get yucky, quickly. And while the charcoal filter prevents the smells from getting out, the inside of your composter can get gross quickly. These bags from Grove Collaborative are actually compostable and make it so much nicer to stomach. Just like a trash bag, you use them to line your composter and then bag it all up and toss it in when you’re done. Trust me. You might

   

   want to grab a roll for yourself.

3. Single Chamber Compost Tumbler: A single chamber compost tumbler is a great place to start when you’re a newbie. Unlike open bins, tumblers are great at preventing pests from getting in your scraps and make the entire process very suburban-friendly. There are multiple different kinds and there is no one tumbler that’s best for everyone, it’s individual. This was my first single barrel and I love it, but if bending down to get leverage to tumble it might pose a physical problem for you, I recommend something like this which is much easier to turn.
4. Double-Bin Composter: In order to actually use the compost you create, at some point you have to stop adding new scraps in and let the full bin “cook,” with no new scraps added. This poses a problem for single bins. So, if you get to that point and are really into it, I recommend grabbing either another single chamber composter or a larger double bin like this one. This allows you to have one “hot” bin (that’s really close to usable compost) and one bin you are actively adding to. This is where I am right now and feel like I have a full-blown compost factory in my sideyard. Which makes me feel cool if I’m being honest.

Now, what do I do With This Stuff?

My composting process is pretty simple. This is why this whole thing is called Easy Composting 101 for Dummies, of course. I keep my counter composter close when I’m cooking and put all veggie scraps, banana peels, eggshells, apple cores, and coffee grinds in there until it’s full. I also add any paper towel or toilet paper rolls, though those are technically browns. Once I can’t stuff another possible thing in there or it’s a bit too pungent when I open it, I carry that bin out to my sideyard and dump the whole thing in. Typically, I keep a lawn bag of grass clippings and leaves on my patio to throw in a few handfuls of browns (carbons) on top after I drop the scraps in. I give it a few tumbles, walk back inside and carry on with my day.

Every once in a while I’ll go out and tumble even when I’m not adding anything, especially when I’m working in my yard, and check out the consistency of the compost. If it’s too wet, it’ll be black and slimy. So if that’s the case, I throw a cover of grass clippings on top without tumbling to help rebalance the pile. Dry compost is easy to spot too, it will look like black tree bark, and then I just know the next time I add greens I don’t need to add browns. It should smell like dirt when I open it–without too much of an odor. Some more browns will fix that right up if it’s a bit too pungent. You should see little worms and grubs and all sorts of crawly things in there and yes, it’s common to have a lot of gnats fly out when you open it too. These are all signs of very healthy compost. Don’t panic.

Otherwise, it’s very low-maintenance.

You can have real, live compost in as little as 3-4 months if you keep a perfectly balanced ratio the entire time. Since I’m a bit more lax with my balancing, it took me a year to get a full bin of beautiful black gold. But man, as I said before, there is nothing more rewarding than using your own compost. Just look at that soil…

This soil currently lines all of my container gardens and plant pots. It’s the most balanced and nutrient-rich soil I could ask for, better than any bag I purchase at the store. And I made it, y’all. My family and I made that while simultaneously reducing the amount of food waste we personally contribute to the landfill. Therefore, we make less methane gas.

Well, at least from food waste. I do have teenage boys, after all, so I can’t say we don’t make any methane gas. If you know what I mean.

But Should I Compost?

Now I understand that sometimes it feels like our personal contributions don’t make a dang bit of difference when it comes to the greater environmental impact. After all, unless our names are Exxon or Chevron, we’re probably not the major cause. But that shouldn’t stop us from doing what we can to help. Not only does it save us money from food waste (hey, no bags of soil purchased in this household!) but it also feels good to know that even though our part is small, we’re still doing it.

And I promise you will feel good doing it too.

If you have questions or need help getting started, drop me a DM. I’ll be glad to walk you through it. If I can do it, anyone can. And I really think  you should!

Peace, love, and trash,
Meg

Need More Technical Composting Help? Check These Articles Out:

How To Compost At Home

How To Start Composting For Beginners 

How To Start Composting For Gardens

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