What can I throw in the compost?

Sometimes I ask myself, “What can I thrown in the compost?” I’ve been looking at the lint that I take out of the dryer and wondering if I could compost it. So, after a little research, I learned, that sure enough, you can!

There are so many things that are compostable. I don’t even think most people know all the stuff that you can throw into your compost bin. What can I throw in my compost bin?

But, before I go into all the things that are compostable, I should back up a little…

food waste

According to the EPA, Americans waste nearly 1 million pounds of materials per person every year (2009 figure).

This includes 34 million tons of food waste. Less than three percent of that 34 million tons of food waste generated in 2009 was recovered and recycled. The rest —33 million tons— was thrown away.

Food waste represents the single largest part of waste reaching landfills and incinerators. By composting some of your waste, you can ease the burden on landfills, and improve the condition of your soil to boot!

There are several positive effects of composting: improved soil health, increased drought resistance, and reduced need for supplemental water, fertilizers and pesticides.

And, compost isn’t limited to just leaves & grass. It’s much more than that.

Here’s a list (that’s by no means exhaustive) of different materials you can add to your compost pile.

Just think, all these materials won’t end up in landfills if you compost them, plus, you’ll be doing your garden a huge favor with all the added nutrients.

Kitchen Scraps

• Fruits & veggies (pretty much any part of them)
  • Apple cores
  • Artichoke leaves
  • Banana peels
  • Corncobs (take a long time to decompose)
  • Freezer-burned fruits or vegetables
  • Fruit salad
  • Garlic skins
  • Jack-O-Lanterns
  • Liquid from canned fruits or vegetables
  • Nut shells
  • Onion skins
  • Pickles
  • Pits (date, olive, avocado, peach)
  • Potato peelings
  • Produce trimmings
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Rhubarb stems
  • Salad
  • Spoiled canned fruits and vegetables
  • Sunflower seed husks
  • Tomatillo husks
  • Watermelon rinds

• Snacks

  • Cookies
  • Jell-o (gelatin)
  • Popcorn (unpopped “old maids” too)
  • Stale potato chips
    
• Cooking or baking
  • Bread (crusts, stale bread [but I’d rather use it for breadcrumbs as long as it isn’t moldy], burned toast)
  • Baking powder (useful in keeping a brown tint in the end product and reducing acidity brought about by the decomposition process inside)
  • Baking soda
  • Burned oatmeal
  • Cooked rice
  • Crackers
  • Egg shells
  • Herbs or spices
  • Jam or Jelly
  • Pasta
  • Peanut butter sandwiches
  • Pie crust
  • Stale breakfast cereal
  • Tofu (it’s just soybeans)
  • Wheat bran
    
• Drinks
  • Beer
  • Coffee grounds
  • Tea bags and tea leaves
  • Wine
  • Wine corks
    
• Fish
  • Fish bones, scraps, and skin
  • Freezer-burned fish
  • Shells (Crush them: lobster, shrimp, crab, mussels, oysters)
    
• Dairy
  • Ice cream
  • Milk (in small amounts)
  • Moldy cheese
  • Soy milk
  • Yogurt

Fabric & Laundry

• Burlap
• Leather wallets
• Lint from behind refrigerator or under bed
• Lint from clothes dryer

Household Scraps

• Aquarium plants
• Ashes from the fireplace
• Bird cage cleanings
• Brown paper bags
• Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded)
• Cotton balls
• Credit card offers
• Dust bunnies from under the bed
• Elmer’s glue
• Envelopes
• Expired flower arrangements
• Feathers
• Fingernail and toenail clippings
• Grocery receipts
• Hair (including pet hair and fur)
• Houseplant trimmings
• Ivory soap scraps
• Junk mail
• Kleenex tissues
• Leather watch bands
• Matches (paper or wood) Paper towels
• Moss from last year’s hanging baskets
• Napkins
• Newspapers (Shredded)
• Pencil shavings
• Post-it notes
• Q-tips (cotton swabs with cardboard, not plastic sticks)
• Razor trimmings
• Unpaid bills
• Wooden toothpicks
• Wool socks

Yard & Garage Scraps

• Bone meal
• Dirt from soles of shoes, boots
• Fish meal
• Flowers and flower petals
• Garden soil
• Grass clippings
• Leather gardening gloves
• Leaves
• Manure (chicken, rabbit, horse, goat, or cow)
• Old or outdated seeds
• Peat moss
• Pine needles
• Sawdust (useful in keeping a brown tint in the end product and reducing acidity brought about by the decomposition process inside)
• Spanish moss
• Tree bark
• Weeds (Clover)
• Wood ash
• Wood chips

Other

• Hair clippings from the barber or the dog groomer
• Seaweed and kelp

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