Many of us are aware of household items we can compost but are unsure of how or where to begin. So it is very important to discuss household items you can compost. Thousands of tonnes of food and household products are thrown away each year, filling our landfills. You will help the environment recycle and prevent your local landfill from overflowing by composting these products. We will minimise the amount of waste in landfills and produce a usable commodity by properly decomposing food and plant waste. Composting is a waste disposal method in which organic waste decomposes naturally in an oxygen-rich environment. The final compost product is humus, rich in nutrients, and can be used to naturally fertilise gardens and enhance growing conditions. Composting will reduce your household waste stream by 20-50 per cent, eliminating the burden on landfills while still replenishing your grass, trees, houseplants, or garden for free. We’d need fewer landfills if we composted food and other organic waste instead of throwing it away, and they wouldn’t emit methane. It’s a critical and necessary sustainability strategy for eliminating waste, closing the nutrient loop, and avoiding climate-change-causing air pollution.
List of items you can compost
The ratio of carbon-rich items to nitrogen-rich items in well-balanced compost is around 25 parts carbon-rich to one part nitrogen-rich. Food scraps are nitrogen, so we should be adding a lot more carbon to the mix for all of those vegetables we’re composting. This may take the form of a variety of natural, outdoor products, such as hay, straw, leaves, wood (branches, shavings, sawdust, and so on), pine needles, and other similar items, as well as the following list of items produced by common household processes. Here is the list of household items you can compost.
- Newspaper- Newspapers are one of the items you can compost easily. Thankfully, the world is becoming more paperless, so there are fewer newspapers and paper products to contend with. However, they do exist, which isn’t necessarily a negative thing when it comes to composting. Paper objects, like cardboard, are made of wood and, as such, are suitable for balancing the ratios in our compost pile. Just stay away from shiny objects, pieces of plastic (like those used in envelope windows), and tape. Before throwing the paper in the compost pile, shred it if possible.
- Hair/pet fur- Hair from shower drains, hairbrushes, and beard trims, for example, can all go into the compost heap, as can and should pet hair. On the other hand, Hair is considered nitrogen rather than a carbon additive, so keep that in mind when balancing. However, given the amount of hair waste generated by a typical household, this should not be a problem. When adding the hair to the compost, make sure to scatter it rather than clumping it together. Hair and pet fur are common items you can compost daily.
- Debris from the floor– The debris we sweep or vacuum up from the floor is usually a mixture of the items mentioned above, plus sloughed-off skin cells from ourselves. To put it another way, except for the occasional shard of glass or a dropped coin, these dust bunnies and other critters are compostable. This comes under common items you can compost.
- Flowers– Flowers from vases and trimmings from houseplants (or dead plants) are organic matter that does compost well, but they are included for the sake of avoiding forgetfulness. If these items are still new and green, they will be counted as nitrogen, but if they are allowed to turn brown and brittle, they will be counted as carbon. Include the soil or potting mix with a complete houseplant, but make sure to shake it out into bits.
- Clothes- Many clothing and fabric pieces, such as towels, are made entirely of natural materials and are therefore biodegradable. In layman’s terms, this means they’ll have more food for the garden to eat. Keep an eye out for things like denim, cotton t-shirts, linen, hemp, and animal-based items like wool, silk, and leather while cleaning out your cupboards and closets. Until composting, attempt to remove/reuse buttons and zippers, and remember that the smaller the parts the object is cut into, the faster it can decompose.
- Cardboard- Doesn’t this make perfect sense to you? Stuff made of wood would work for the compost’s carbon side if wood worked for the carbon side. So keep an eye out for all those cardboard mail packages, food boxes, and other packaging. It’ll all fall apart. Consider if the cardboard is covered in shiny plastic or taped, and take the time to remove these non-biodegradable elements before throwing it in the compost. Cutting the cardboard into strips or ripping it into smaller pieces also helps.
- Wine cork- Since cork is a natural material, you can use them to help your garden flourish instead of throwing away all those extra wine corks. All you have to do now is break the cork into tiny pieces and toss it in with your other trash. Only make sure your heap doesn’t contain any plastic corks, as they won’t decompose. You can also add old wine or beer if you couldn’t finish the bottle of wine.
- Eggshells- Eggshells are good example of items you can compost daily. It’s no wonder that an average person in the world eats 150 to 200 eggs every year, whether it’s scrambled eggs for breakfast, fried eggs on toast for lunch, or boiled eggs with salad for dinner! There will be a lot of empty eggshells as a result of this. Are you aware that eggshells can be used in the garden for various purposes, including fertilisation and pest control? Eggshells are an easy way to improve the calcium content of your compost. Place your shells on the compost heap or in the barrel and turn them under. Slugs and snails can be managed by scattering crumbled eggshells around the plants where the pests have been discovered. The shells’ sharp edges will warn the pests, causing them to flee to a location where they are less likely to be harmed.
- Copper coins- Copper coins are often found strewn around. Discarded pennies are an annoyance for many of us since they are always dropped on sidewalks or left unattended at the bottom of our purses or wallets. Alternatively, you could have been given a foreign copper coin that you would likely never use. These comes under rare items you can compost.
- Coffee and tea- Coffee is a popular household commodity that can be used as a plant fertiliser. However, this is only true if the grinds themselves contain caffeine, which depends on how you prepare your coffee. However, before you apply coffee to your plants, make sure it’s scorched. This is because wet coffee is more likely to cause fungus to grow, which will harm your plants in the long run.
- Untreated wood ashes from fireplaces, grills, and outdoor fire pits- Wood ash that has not been processed is an excellent fertiliser for your plants. Harvesting ash from your fireplace during the winter will ensure that you have plenty for the rest of the year. But why is ash from a helpful fireplace? Wood ash can alkalinise soil, which is beneficial for various plants in your garden since their PH levels are likely to vary. They’d like to get as close to being as neutral as possible. You can supply potassium and calcium carbonate to your soil by simply covering it with fireplace ash. These items you can compost sometimes .
Conclusion
After knowing common household items you can compost, its time to get started on your compost pile now that you know what can be added to your composting routine and what you can avoid. This is not only a smart way to save money on fertiliser, but it also helps the climate. And someone new to composting would be off to a great start if they follow these guidelines. You can do it in a better way if you know waste management.