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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Laundry Lint

16 years ago

I have done "some" composting. It works pretty good and am expanding every year. I'm told I can't use laundry lint which makes sense since it is not of a natual nature - or can I? There is just so much of it and it seams such a waste. I currently use it for the birds to nest with. But there is still lots more.

Can I use it?

thanks for your thoughts and suggestions

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Comments (6)

bpgreen
16 years ago
It depends on what you're laundering, really. If your clothes are made of natural fabrics like cotton, linen, etc, you can use the lint. If you have lots of synthetic fabric, that won't break down.
ladykitsu
16 years ago
I always compost my lint.

I don't really worry about synthetic fibers in there. When I dry my synthetic stuff I get almost no lint from it.

It all comes from when I wash all my normal stuff like towels...Now theres a ball of lint for you!!!

I should add that I don't use fabric softners, but I don't really know how much of a differance in the compostability in the lint
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I recently ran into this issue about 2 months ago. I thought it might have trapped lint but after cleaning that out it did not help. What I discovered was the plastic piece on the inside somehow warped and was preventing it from sliding in. After analyzing it more I loosened the two screws on the inside of the dryer holding the plastic pieces of the lint trap together. That allowed me to fully push the lint trap down. That is actually when I saw that the inside plastic piece had warped. I then screwed it back together. Put only a towel in and ran the dryer on high for about 40 minutes. Speculating this would restore the proper shape of the piece that was warped. So far this has worked. Recommend if you do run the dryer on the highest setting during normal operation you do not pull the lint trap out until it has somewhat cooled. Not sure how it warped in the first place but I think that it was run on high the lint trap was pulled out and the plastic piece warped. My wife normally does the laundary so not sure exactly what happened. I just fix things. :)
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digdirt2
16 years ago
I toss it in all the time. Good, well-balanced composting cures everything. If you have that much of it the odds are most of what you are drying are natural fibers and there is little harm to be feared from the resulting few threads of nylon, dacron, or polyester that might end up in the garden. ;)
Demeter
16 years ago
The natural fibers will break down. I don't know why the bits of synthetic fibers would be bothersome - individually, they're short, almost invisible, and stable - kind of like sand. You'd have to be composting all the lint from a laundromat in order for the synthetic fibers to affect anything.
vinn625
16 years ago
what about fabric softener sheets, are these poisonous to the compost pile?
Demeter
16 years ago
The fabric softener sheets aren't usable. They don't break down, and unless you use them a couple of times, there's fabric softener in them, which I wouldn't want in my pile.

Toss them.

Better yet, don't use them at all.

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