Compostable materials

13 years ago

I have been composting for over a year and have some very nice stuff to put in my carden this year along with the load of chicken manure that I am going to age until next year. I am pretty knowledgeable about what I think should go into a pile but I came across this list that I think has some questionable items on it. The ones that contain dairy products are the ones I question (old yogurt, soggy cereal, etc). Let me know what you think about those and any others you may find that you don't think should be thrown in there.

Paper napkins

Freezer-burned vegetables

Burlap coffee bags

Pet hair

Potash rock

Post-it notes

Freezer-burned fruit

Wood chips

Bee droppings

Lint from behind refrigerator

Hay

Popcorn (unpopped, 'Old Maids,' too)

Freezer-burned fish

Old spices

Pine needles

Leaves

Matches (paper or wood)

Seaweed and kelp

Hops

Chicken manure

Leather dust

Old, dried up and faded herbs

Bird cage cleanings

Paper towels

Brewery wastes

Grass clippings

Hoof and horn meal

Molasses residue

Potato peelings

Unpaid bills

Gin trash (wastes from cotton plants)

Weeds

Rabbit manure

Hair clippings from the barber

Stale bread

Coffee grounds

Wood ashes

Sawdust

Tea bags and grounds

Shredded newspapers

Egg shells

Cow manure

Alfalfa

Winter rye

Grapefruit rinds

Pea vines

Houseplant trimmings

Old pasta

Grape wastes

Garden soil

Powdered/ground phosphate rock

Corncobs (takes a long time to decompose)

Jell-o (gelatin)

Blood meal

Winery wastes

Spanish moss

Limestone

Fish meal

Aquarium plants

Beet wastes

Sunday comics

Harbor mud

Felt waste

Wheat straw

Peat moss

Kleenex tissues

Milk (in small amounts)

Soy milk

Tree bark

Starfish (dead ones!)

Melted ice cream

Flower petals

Pumpkin seeds

Q-tips (cotton swabs: cardboard, not plastic sticks)

Expired flower arrangements

Elmer's glue

BBQ'd fish skin

Bone meal

Citrus wastes

Stale potato chips

Rhubarb stems

Old leather gardening gloves

Tobacco wastes

Bird guano

Hog manure

Dried jellyfish

Wheat bran

Guinea pig cage cleanings

Nut shells

Cattail reeds

Clover

Granite dust

Moldy cheese

Greensand

Straw

Shredded cardboard

Dolomite lime

Cover crops

Quail eggs (OK, I needed a 'Q' word)

Rapeseed meal

Bat guano

Fish scraps

Tea bags (black and herbal)

Apple cores

Electric razor trimmings

Kitchen wastes

Outdated yogurt

Toenail clippings

Shrimp shells

Crab shells

Lobster shells

Pie crust

Leather wallets

Onion skins

Bagasse (sugar cane residue)

Watermelon rinds

Date pits

Goat manure

Olive pits

Peanut shells

Burned oatmeal (sorry, Mom)

Lint from clothes dryer

Bread crusts

Cooked rice

River mud

Tofu (it's only soybeans, man!)

Wine gone bad (what a waste!)

Banana peels

Fingernail and toenail clippings

Chocolate cookies

Wooden toothpicks

Moss from last year's hanging baskets

Stale breakfast cereal

Pickles

'Dust bunnies' from under the bed

Pencil shavings

Wool socks

Artichoke leaves

Leather watch bands

Fruit salad

Tossed salad (now THERE's tossing it!)

Brown paper bags

Soggy Cheerios

Theater tickets

Lees from making wine

Burned toast

Feathers

Animal fur

Horse manure

Vacuum cleaner bag contents

Coconut hull fiber

Old or outdated seeds

Macaroni and cheese

Liquid from canned vegetables

Liquid from canned fruit

Old beer

Wedding bouquets

Greeting card envelopes

Snow

Dead bees and flies

Horse hair

Peanut butter sandwiches

Dirt from soles of shoes, boots

Fish bones

Ivory soap scraps

Spoiled canned fruits and vegetables

Produce trimmings from grocery store

Cardboard cereal boxes (shredded)

Grocery receipts

Urine (It's true! Read the letters below)

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Comments (7)

luckygal
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I've composted small amounts of dairy with no problems, but I do question how long some of those things would take to completely break down. Wood chips, tree bark, and cattail reeds, depending on the size could take awhile, as could leather items. Since I only occasionally hot compost I'd not use many of those things.

I question whether Ivory soap is a completely natural product so I know I wouldn't compost it. I wouldn't bother composting peat moss either but would mix it with the finished compost if I needed to use it up. I'd also be careful to not add too much wood ash or minerals as they don't decompose and could alter the pH and cause an imbalance that's difficult to restore.

In a good hot compost everything else on that list would decompose fairly quickly tho - except maybe those little olive pits.

Warning - wedding bouquets are composed of more than organic materials, they have wires and plastic stuff also so one should gleefully rip it apart to remove those things OR ceremonially burn/trash it if it no longer has sentimental value! ;-D
shermthewerm
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"Bee droppings"...?
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I think this is all a lie. I really do. I think that this is some mean April Fool's joke. The list just went on and on; when he got to the manure part, I thought to myself, "Oh, you just had to go too far to be believable, didn't you, Jonas? You had me up till then, though. I would be inside out with envy it it'd been true, though.
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I have been collecting the coffee grounds with filters from the local convenience mart for about 6 months now. We have a system going where I swap out 2 5-gallon buckets about once a week. I also pick up coffee grounds at Starbucks whenever I stop in there. My town does not have curbside pickup of leaves or brush, instead it has a municipal composting site. Residents drop off their leaves and grass clippings and the town composts it. Residents can pick up as much rich black compost as they can haul away in the car every Saturday. The past month or so, I grab bags of leaves off of the pile that is going to be future compost too. Sometimes I'll pick bags of leaves up off the curb from other towns when I'm driving around. In the past, I've also had the municipal tree-trimmers drop off piles of wood chips. But I still have a nice big pile from some tree-removal done in my yard 2 years ago that is now nicely aged and ready to spread. Coincidentally, I'm having a couple large Norway maples removed in 3 days, and I'll have another BIG pile of fresh chippings! I also manage some commercial property and have a constant supply of large cardboard. Since last fall, I've been making lasagne beds with all this stuff - cardboard, then coffee grounds, then leaves, grass clippings, finished compost, and whatever else on top!
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bill13286
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great list. The only thing I see that might be problemic is the unpaid bills.
lilycrazy
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
some of those made me giggle.......
flora_uk
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Everything except possible the harbour mud. Is that a salt water harbour? And is it from an urban location? Does it include the shopping carts and old bikes?

You missed feather pillows and cotton clothing - I think. Can you alphabetise it next time, please?
Shane_Genziuk
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You had me at coffee grounds.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Ground to Ground site
lynxe
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"I came across this list that I think has some questionable items on it. The ones that contain dairy products are the ones I question (old yogurt, soggy cereal, etc)."

That is some list! I'm feeling so very limited, what with my kitchen compost bucket and dried leaves. Where's the okapi manure, blue-footed booby droppings, and shredded CIA files when I need them!

OK....your comment re: dairy. I no longer eat any dairy, but in the past, I never worried too much about what I put in my compost piles. Meat, fish, dairy, they've all gone in. Even before setting up piles, we've had the following on our property: feral cats, foxes, coyote, rats. Am I going to attract animals? Nope...They're already here!

Compostable materials

Comments (7)

luckygal

shermthewerm

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