Composting: The What, Why & How To:
WHAT IS COMPOSTING?
Everyone knows that composting is Mother Nature’s way of recycling by transforming natural
nutrients of waste organic matter into useable nutrition for all plants.
A composter turns kitchen and yard waste into dark, nutrient-rich, earth-smelling soil. If you have
a garden, lawn, trees, shrubs or planters you can use this valuable compost to improve your soil and plants.
WHY SHOULD I COMPOST?
First, it’s easy. Second, by using compost you return organic matter to the soil in a useable form.
Compost, or humus, in the soil improves plant growth by:
* helping break down heavy clay soils
* adding water and nutrient-holding capacity to sandy soil
* adding essential nutrient to any soil
Rich organic soil helps produce healthy plants. Healthy plants help clean our air and conserve our
soil. Composting cuts down on your household garbage by recycling organic materials. In fact, if you’re
composting kitchen and yard waste in addition to recycling newspapers, glass bottles and cans, you’re
cutting your waste almost in half!
If all of your neighbors did this too, it would dramatically reduce the amount of household garbage
that’s choking our landfill sites.
HOW TO START YOUR COMPOSTER
Spread approximately 4” of carbon materials such as twigs, straw or dry leaves over the bottom. If
these aren’t readily available you can rake up dry materials from under hedges, shrubs or the flower garden.
Shredded newspaper, office paper or corrugated cardboard works as well.
Over this, spread a couple of shovels full of earth from your garden. Then start adding your
kitchen waste or cuttings from the garden. It’s as easy as that.
WHAT CAN I COMPOST?
One-third of your household garbage can be composted! Yard waste such as fallen leaves, grass
clippings, weeds before they seed, and the remains of disease-free garden plants make excellent compost.
You can also compost kitchen scraps such as fruit and vegetable peels and trimmings, egg shells (crushed),
coffee grounds & filters, and tea bags. Don’t compost meat, bones, or fatty foods such as cheese, salad
dressing or leftover cooking oil, as they may attract pests.
YARD WASTE: KITCHEN WASTE: YARD WASTE: KITCHEN
Leaves, dry grass Fruit & vegetable matter No single layer of Meats, fats, bones,
Weeds Egg shells, crushed material should be fish. Dairy products
Garden plants Tea bags, coffee grounds greater than six Cooking oil
Soft plant stems and filters inches thick. Pet feces.
HOW DO I COMPOST?
The composting process requires:
* organic matter (2 parts “brown” to 1 part “green”) * moisture * air * soil
Any composter creates rich compost when you alternate layers of organic waste, keep the material
moist and well aerated. It is helpful, although not essential, to add 1/2” layers of soil which contribute
micro-organisms to the pile.
Composters perform most efficiently and effectively when you chop waste into smaller bits. To
accelerate composting, begin with a layer of nutrient-rich material such as your own finished compost or
bone meal. Continue to layer kitchen waste, yard waste and soil until the composter is full. It’s important
to use materials with a high carbon content such as leaves, as well as materials with a high nitrogen content
such as kitchen scraps or grass clippings.
Keep the material as moist as a squeezed-out sponge. Occasional watering may be required to
moisten the pile if it becomes too dry. Turn the material (at least four or five times during the summer)
with a pitchfork, shovel or compost turner so it’s well aerated. You can turn the pile once a week but more
frequently turning will inhibit composting. Remove finished compost through the convenient doors at the
base of the composter.
Composting: The What, Why & How To, Continued:
WILL IT SMELL?
A compost pile that is working well should not have an unpleasant odor, unless the material is too
wet or too compacted. Turn the pile to allow it to dry out a bit and to ensure that it is well aerated. Adding
dry organics such as fall leaves can help absorb excess moisture.
WHAT IS THE BEST LOCATION FOR COMPOSTING?
Place your composter on a level patch of earth, convenient to the house, but NOT exposed to
direct sun. It is important that the ground is level so that the weight of the material is evenly distributed. If
it is uneven, the lid won’t fit.
WILL COMPOSTING ATTRACT ANIMALS?
NO, if you lessen the risk:
* when adding kitchen waste, either dig it in immediately or cover it with soil. You may find it
easier to collect food waste by the kitchen sink in a plastic container with a lid for a few days before taking
it out to the composter.
* DO NOT add meat scraps, fat, bones, fish or dairy products to your compost pile.
CAN I COMPOST WOOD ASHES?
YES, wood ashes that are cold and soaked in water from a fireplace or stove are a good source of
potash. It is best to add many thin layers as the potash leaks out. DO NOT compost charcoal or coal
HOW CAN I DISCOURAGE FLIES?
Dig in food waste each time you add it and cover it with a little soil.
CAN I COMPOST WEEDS?
To prevent contaminating the soil with weed seeds, do not put ripened weeds in the compost heap.
It the weeds are green and the seeds have not matured, they may be safely added to the composter.
WHAT ABOUT GRASS CLIPPINGS?
Grass is about 60% water and 40% cellulose and packs into dense layers, which limits oxygen
penetration. The net result is an anaerobic condition, producing terrible odors. Clippings should be left to
dry for a day, or until they turn brown (but not completely dried out). Add them in layers of 6” to the
composter, or mix 50/50 with last year’s leaves.
To avoid overloading your composter with grass clippings, double mow or use a mulching lawn
mower leaving the clippings where they fall. This will add nutrients to your lawn, lowering the need for
WHAT CAN I DO WITH LEAVES?
If you are lucky enough to have lots of leaves you can make superior compost and leaf mold.
Ideally, the leaves should be saved to be mixed in with nitrogen-rich grass clippings and weeds in
the spring and summer. Leaves form the correct balance for superior compost, being high in carbon.
Excess leaves kept from the fall decompose into fluffy, dark brown leaf mold with a good earthy
aroma you find on the forest floor. Leaf mold is ideal for weed control on flower beds and as a moisture-
retaining mulch, especially for long dry spells when plants need it most.
If you have too many leaves to use, save them for next year, share them with a neighbor or shred
them to use as mulch around your trees. You can reduce the volume of your leaves 15 to 20 times by
placing them in an empty garbage bin and using an electric string trimmer to chop them up.
An equally successful volume reduction method is to run your rotary lawn mower back and forth
over the pile of leaves.
CAN I COMPOST IN WINTER?
For winter composting, build a base of fall leaves twelve inches high at the bottom of the
composter. Continue to add kitchen scraps all through the winter. The waste will freeze, breaking down
In the spring add three shovels full of earth from your garden and mix all the materials together.
The decomposition process will become active again.
Recycling/ Composting Bins For Sale at Recycle Utah:
Composters: Presto Hoop, Home Composter, “Vermi” Worm Bin,
Compost Carrier, Compost Booklet
1951 Woodbine Way • PO Box 682998 • Park City, UT 84068 • Phone: (435) 649-9698 • Fax: (435) 658-1530
E-mail:email@example.com • http://www.recycleutah.org