If you get a good sized hot pile going- then all of that stuff can be composted. meat, cheese, hair clippings, shredded paper, leaves, etc. Just bury it deep enough and keep pets away from it (important to their health, it turns out). If the pile is not hot, or you don't have enough browns to counteract all that green goodness, then you may want to skip the meats, cheese, fats. Fats and cooking oils- don't throw in gallons. A couple of cups- OK.

You may want to get a good hot pile going and get confident in the method before throwing in the more controversial things like meats.

good to know.. how about different kinds of paper.. what about ash burned from natural logs (not those fake logs)?

Technically, you can compost anything organic. That would include paper and wood ash.

But whether you WANT to include some things depends, as pablo pointed out, on the method you use AND keeping a balance in amounts of so-called "green" and "brown" things. EX: some wood ash mixed with greens - no problem. Lots of wood ash (brown) with only other browns - dead mess. ;)

I suggest you begin by reading through the FAQ for this forum (linked below and at the top of this page) for all sorts of beginner info that will get you started. Then post any questions you might have. Good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of composting!! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting FAQ

The problem with wood ash is not that it's green or brown, but that it is caustic and adds lots of stuff that may be an issue in large doses. A bit at a time is fine. I've put lots into an active compost pile without any problems.

Most papers in the US are fine now because inks are made from soy products rather than petroleum. I dunno about glossy paper, but newsprint, office paper, paper bags should all be fine.

I read NEVER to put meat or bones in a compost bin - why the conflicting information out there?

Christine

I think Pablo gives the best advice. Experiment several times until you perfect your method to get a good, hot pile, large enough to stay hot for a good long time. Then, if you're OK with it you might want to progress to things like meat, dairy, and manure. Just be sure first that you know how to do it.

That said, you can also just pile up relatively safe organic matter, most any mix, and it will eventually rot.

Christine: right, many sources say not to compost meat or dairy products, some also say not to use manure because of the potential for pathogens, like Ecoli. Some of these folks keep huge, hot compost operations going and feel safe with these things. I don't.

Karen

Christine;

Anything organic can be composted. Vegetable scraps, Meat, diesel, human feces if you wish.

The reason why there is conflicting information is because the composting of meat and chemicals can be dangerous if the right conditions don't exist to break down and neutralize detrimental effects of those materials. As an example, human feces have been used since the dawn of man as a natural fertilizer - imagine being able to close the recycling loop so completely that what goes into your body, ends up right back in the garden! As a garden geek, I call that utopia. As a suburban dweller, i call that unrealistic. Essentially, there are many pathogens (bad organisms) that exist in feces, meat etc. that need a certain temperature for a certain length of time before they can be rendered "safe". If you have a large, active compost that is well balanced and "hot" - meat is an easy digest. I once found a dead bird in my yard and put it a foot deep into my compost - in 3 days it was gone!!

Now, I have a new compost started, and it's not really heating up well and hasn't found it's "balance" yet (or rather, I haven't). Right now, my compost is totally vegetarian - until it's really working away I won't attempt any meat in there. So.. if your concerned, you could do the same. Just keep it vegetarian.

The link below is what I consider to be the best composting resource on the net;

The Humanure Handbook

Here is a link that might be useful: The Humanure Handbook

Amateur- that is general safe advice given to folks just starting out. It prevents animals from getting in, or from a stinky mess or possible disease issue from developing. It turns out that with some basic precautions, the pile will be safe and not smell.

As I've said here a number of times- I've composted whole deer carcases, whole frozen turkey, bones and meat, pest animals on a regular basis without issues. I was at a conference recently where a government group gave a recommendation on composting methods for animals with disease outbreaks (bird flu, for example) that rendered them harmless compost.

It's OK to not compost this stuff if you're unsure or not confident in it yet, or if you just plain don't want to.

At a ripe old 37 years, maybe my immune system is still too strong to see a problem. I'm invincible! :)

Hi Karen!

Pablo: Watch that invincible talk. You'll end up in a hospital.

I just flipped my compost. Feels good, especially after being cooped up inside for a week feeling like I had been transported to Antarctica. The turning and aerating thing is another necessary part, Ireneo, (the hard part!) if you want "loads of cheap compost fast". Or... just pile up organic matter and let it rot slowly at it's own pace. That's my winter approach.

Good luck to you, Irene, and let us know how it works out for you.

Karen

Esobofh - maybe ages ago everything going into the body going back into the garden would have been wonderful. Personally, I would never say that now given the chemicals and other yuck humans ingest every day. Maybe I just don't understand the potential of the composting process - if bird flu can be rendered harmless, who knows.

Karen - I'm the ripe old age of 30 and I grew up with my mom's very uncleanly habits like leaving chicken on the counter all day to thaw and then another 3 hours after cooking. I was rarely sick. Of course, I had a brain tumor 3 years ago and I just had surgery to remove a breast lump so my feelings of invincibility are long gone!

So, no meat for me right now!

Christine

Christine, I'm of an age where I could be your Mom; My son is 26 and I wasn't exactly a child when he was born. Coincidentally, I also had a brain tumor, benign, 15 years ago. I hope you were as fortunate, i.e. no malignancy. I think everyone in that generation had similar food-prep habits. My Mom often cooked dinner in the morning and left it sitting on the stove all day until we ate dinner at 5 or 6 o'clock.

I'm a lot more careful in food handling than Mother was. BTW, she eats raw ground beef...need I say more?

Karen

Whaddya mean I can't leave meat sitting out to thaw? How the heck else will it thaw, it certainly won't sitting in the fridge... As long as its cooked all the way through anything in it is dead.
The only thing that doesn't get thawed on the counter all day is pizza dough, we've found leaving it in the microwave all day with a cold pack works much better as it thaws slower.

We've NEVER had any issues with food borne illness. If you aren't cooking your food all the way then I guess....

I guess if I had a compromised immune system I'd be more worried about it but my body is built to deal with some level of germs, they're SUPPOSED to be here.

Besides remember that your poop that goes down the toilet gets back into the food chain at the other end. "Treating" the poop largely means they let the water evaporate off. The rest gets spread here and there. When I was a kid they spread "sludge" on the field across the street. That'd be the same field we flew kites in. Of course we didn't fly kites when the field was wet with sludge, but a week or two later we did.
They spread sludge, then later when the grass was high they cut it and fed it to the cows. We drank the cows milk and ate their flesh. Thats the cycle of life.

Woops, Karen - I meant that "ripe old age" comment for pablo! Yes, my brain tumor was non-malignant. However, it was in my ventricles and would have killed me had I not had it removed.

Personally, I think bacteria is stronger (thanks to over-use of antibiotics)and people are weaker (thanks to over-use of antibiotics and exposure to chemicals and pollution) than they were my mom's generation and before.

Good points, cutlugwig. I make sure that I don't "clean freak" my kids into weak immune systems. We rarely use antibiotics, we don't use antibacterial soap and, yes, I do leave my meat on the counter to thaw. I do like a good rare steak so I'll thaw that in the fridge (it just takes a couple of days). Maybe one of these days I'll be experienced enough to get into composting more "scary" things. I'll definately wait until I move out of the city though!

Christine

I do thaw meat on the countertop all day while I'm at work. And I like a good rare steak, too, and it also thaws on the counter. I want it cooked just enough that it doesn't moo at me when I cut.

I also stuff my turkey, it makes the stuffing taste better. I've done it all my life, as my mother did, and her mother before her. Nobody's ever gotten sick from it. Only case of food poisoning in our household ever was contracted by my husband- in Jamaica.

Karen

The admonition to "never add meat or dairy" products has to do with the simple fact that the bacteria that digest the other compostable material get indigestion trying to digest large amounts of that. If you have a good working compost pile small amounts of fats can be introduced with no problem. The single best place I have found to learn about composting is the Florida Composting Online web site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Composting Online

Personally, in my smallish, not-well-tended pile, meats, dead chipmunks and other stinkies make my pile smell terrible. So those I bury deeply between the rows in my garden. The worms love that.

I guess I "compost" the dog poop, in that I put it all in one spot and cover it well with leaves every couple of days when I clean up the yard. I don't turn it or anything, and I've never used this compost, although I suppose I could.

Everything else is fair game: kitchen scraps, garden weeds, autumn leaves, shredded junk mail, fishtank clean-out goo, it all goes in the pile. If I need a little extra heat I buy a bag of bunny food and toss that in.