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Compostable materials

Posted by NCcomposter none (My Page) on
Tue, Apr 26, 11 at 9:35

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Outdated yogurt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)


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Compostable materials

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


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RE: Compostable materials

"Bee droppings"...?


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RE: Compostable materials

Great list. The only thing I see that might be problemic is the unpaid bills.


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RE: Compostable materials

some of those made me giggle.......


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RE: Compostable materials

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?


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RE: Compostable materials

You had me at coffee grounds.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Ground to Ground site


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RE: Compostable materials

"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!


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