What Can You Add To The Compost Pile?
That seems to be the question everyone has, what can or cannot be added to the compost pile.
Here’s a quick list of what you can and can’t include in your compost.
What can you add to compost:
eggshells
grass clippings
horse or cow manure
rabbit droppings
vegetable peels
straw
leaves
rotting fruits of vegetables
shredded newspaper
weeds(but watch for seeds)
used coffee grounds
seaweed
What not to put in compost:
dog or cat droppings
any type of meat
While composting is not an exact science you should add approximately one part green material (vegetable peels, rotting fruit, grass clippings) to 25 parts brown material (leaves, newspaper, straw).
Image: (c) Linette Gerlach
12 Comments
Did you know that Starbucks keeps a bucket inside the door (only the good ones do this) where they package up their old grounds for people to take home to put in the compost pile? Usually my kids fight over who doesn’t have to go inside and look for the bag but we have brought home a few and dumped them into the pile.
Not only can you put those grounds in compost, but they are also meant to be immediate plant fertilizer as well.
Be careful if you are organic gardening to watch what non-organic items you compost. For example potato peels have one of hte highest concentrations of chemicals and toxins in our food chain. Many people think nothing of adding them to their compost.
Marye. Now I’m afraid of eating tater peelings. Guess I have to always buy organic! Smile.
Or grow your own:)
Is there any toxins in newspaper that you would not want in your compost pile?
I’m interested in composting. Why can’t one add meat to a compost pile?
Daniel, meat smells horrible when it’s rotting, and will attract all kinds of unwanted pests. It could also cause illnesses if it’s not completely composted when it’s spread on the garden.
Linette,
Thanks for the information!
Daniel
I have a chinchilla and he loves cuttlebone but rarely eats the hard outside part. We give him these for calcium could I use this in the compost pile? I would think it is very similar to eggshell but not sure.
Thanks for any reply on this,
V.
You CAN add meat & fecal material of carnivors to the pile. It just takes longer to break down to beneficial material. It will draw flies, they will make maggots BUT those will help to decompose the pile. It will make it smell tasty to raccoons & rodents. But for it to be an ‘illness risk’ is VERY unlikely. You would have to be in “skin to decomposed goo” contact & then ingest those fresh bacteria for there to be an illness issue. Once your compost has been ‘cured’ you’ll know because of the colour & smell. Then it is safe. Even with meat, poop, bones, fat, pork rinds you name it. A vague ‘Do NOT’ is ALWAYS someone’s propaganda. The generic illness warning is simply a vegan being manipulative. Dead meat makes great fertilizer & shouldn’t go in the land fill. Cram it into the center of your pile where its the hottest, the smaller the pieces; the faster it will break down.
Recycle EVERYTHING.
tmomof6
what else can go in compost. i lost my paper for my science project