Composting 101
an easy first step
When I was little my mom used to separate all our waste: food scraps, glass, plastic, paper recycling & landfill trash. I thought it was such a pain, when at most of my friends homes everything went into one trash can, easy.
But we all slowly become our parents, right? Or at least share in a few of their traits. Today, like my mom, I am an avid composter. Putting organic material into a landfill trash, especially seeds, feels like a big o’ fuck you to mother earth. We have so many things that separate and distract us from the wise orders of nature, but composting is one way we can participate in the cyclic rhythms that happen all around us, and within us.
Why you should compost
Food scraps are not trash
The ends of a carrot, a moldy lemon, or forgotten left overs buried deep in your fridge are not trash. Given the opportunity, all organic materials will easily breakdown into their basic components and nurture the next generation of food.
organic matter doesn’t compost in landfills
You might think food scraps can breakdown in landfills just the same as in a compost pile, however, organic matter in the mainstream waste system does not breakdown into soil. Instead it contributes to green house gases with global warming potential in two ways:
First, sitting in a landfill food scraps do not have the same air flow as in a compost pile which effects the way in which organic matter decomposes. Instead of breaking down nicely into recyclable nitrogen and carbon, elements which will enrich soil and foster future generations of food, organic matter in a trash dump contributes to methane exhaust, a green house gas with global warming potential.
Second, trash is often incinerated and according to The Institute For Local Self-Reliance, 50% of municipal garbage set out at the curb is compostable. Separating organic matter from true land-fill, non recyclable, reusable items will decrease the overall number of trash bags heading to incinerators which in turn decreases damage to our planet’s health.
a cyclic mindset
Composting is an excellent introduction to thinking more cyclicly: a way of thinking that is crucial to the future of consumption & the health of our planet.
The cycle of compost =
you eat food, scraps go into compost, eventually breakdown into soil from which food grows again. This repeats endlessly.
This is a mindset that needs to be incorporated into how we consume not just food, but everything. Collectively we need to exchange the linear systems that have dominated manufacturing in the last fifty years and replace them with the cyclic ones that existed before. Companies need to be held responsible for the life-cycle of their products by implementing milk-man-like systems: The local Milk-man would drop off glass bottles of milk at your door & at the same time pick up last weeks empty containers to clean & reuse. A loop system that resulted in significantly less waste than the plastic gallon bottles we use today.
…let alone the quality of the cow’s milk inside those gallon jugs,
conversation for another day.
The natural world works in all sorts of cyclic systems that maintain balance: seasons, orbits, precipitation, life & death. The natural order is sophisticated & we need to remember we are apart of it.
Compost can be smell-less + pest-less
The best place to store compost is in the freezer. This significantly reduces the potential messes of compost, like smell & fruit flies or worse, rodents. In the freezer nothing can begin to break down which means no smell, no juices, no risk of pests.
This is ideal for city living without garden space to build / buy a personal compost system. In Brooklyn, New York, for example, my eldest sister keeps her compost in the freezer until it grows too large. Then puts in all in a brown paper bag and walks it down the street to the community garden.
Frozen Compost is also really beautiful. A pile of frozen compost lets you reflect on all the delicious foods you’ve enjoyed recently, or perhaps reminds us to not let as much food go to waste in the coming days.
decreases guilt over food waste
I find myself feeling less sad about a forgotten vegetable in my fridge when I can toss it into the compost knowing it will get a chance to re-join the circle of life.
last but not least, the soil
Given the chance organic material will breakdown into soil, but not just any old soil. Composted soil is rich in microbial activity, nutrient and very fertile.
I dream of a day when I own land and have a proper system in place where I can participate more deeply in the process of composting: growing my own food, eating that food and building rich soil from compost.
compost in ann arbor, mi
Each week I walked our compost over to the local farmers stand
what can you compost?
All kitchen waste will eventually break down but meat, dairy, and fats take much longer. they are also more likely to attract pests: flies, rodents, a curious pet.
Some single use items made from plant materials. However, you want to double check that these items are not industrially compostable because if so, they require city infrastructure in the form of intense heat to be broken down. Unfortunately and as far as I understand, few cities have this infrastructure.
Frozen composting also offers the lovely opportunity to reflect on a week of good eats: seeing the rind of a perfect orange or the plate scrapings after an excellent meal.
How To Make Compost:
There are two components necessary to help organic waste decompose nicely and quickly, a combination of “greens” and “browns”. These colors loosely categorize materials rich in nitrogen vs. materials rich in carbon or carbon hydrate.
the greens
Materials rich in nitrogen or protein
They heat the compost pile because they help microbes grow and multiply quickly
like...
grass clippings
coffee grounds / tea
vegetable and fruit scraps
trimmings from perennial / annual plants
eggshells
animal manures
seaweed!
the browns
Carbon or carbon-hydrate rich
A food source for all the organism that work with microbes to break down the compost pile
Add bulk and help with airflow through pile