Composting 101
“Food waste in particular generates a significant amount of the greenhouse gas methane when it’s buried in landfills, but not so when composted.” – UW News
Composting is, simply put, a type of recycling. Instead of recycling paper or plastic, though, you’re recycling organic matter (such as your food scraps) into a fertilizer that can be used to enrich soil. Composting reduces the waste stream, cuts methane emissions from landfills, and improves soil health (nrdc.org). If you’re already recycling your cans and cartons, then composting is the next obvious step to take in reducing your overall personal waste.
Composting can be done by people in almost any living situation, from homestead farms to studio apartments. The homesteader would most likely practice composting on site, collecting scraps and turning them into fertilizer for personal use, while someone in an apartment or a rental might take their food scraps off-site to be composted (either to their own rented-out garden plot, a nearby farmer, or to a commercial composting facility or drop-off location).
Get started by perusing this thorough composting resource put together by the EPA: “Reducing the Impact of Wasted Food by Feeding the Soil and Composting.”
Composting at Home
Composting at home is a great option for those who have the outdoor space and would like to create fertilizer for their kitchen garden. Check out these resources for starting your at-home compost pile or bin:
- UNH Extension’s “Composting for the Home Gardener Fact Sheet”
- CNN Underscored’s “How to compost at home, according to expert composters”
- OCRRA’s short video “End Food Waste: How to Compost”
Compost Bins vs Piles
One of the first things you might want to consider is whether to purchase or build a compost bin or if you have enough outdoor space to designate an area that will become your compost pile. This could be fenced off with chicken wire to contain it, while allowing for easy access to add to it and turn it over from time to time in order to aerate it.
What Goes into Your At-Home Compost Bin?
The EPA has a good list of dos and don’ts for your compost pile or bin in its “Composting at Home” webpage. Be sure not to compost any meat, dairy, or animal products as they can attract animals (such as rats) to your bin or pile.
Composting with a Service
Taking your food scraps off-site might be the better route for you if you don’t have any outdoor space, if you’re renting, or if you’re simply just not interested in the end product (fertilizer). If this is the case, there is almost certainly a commercial composting service near you (they’re nearly ubiquitous these days). Some services will offer pick-up services, other require you to drop your scraps off at a central location, and some services offer both for different prices. Something else to keep in mind – some recycling centers and landfills also have their own composting operations where you can drop off food scraps.
Local Composting Resources
- Elm City Compost: the first residential compost service in Keene, NH.
- Northeast Resource Recovery Association: a non-profit that serves New England with information and resources about recycling, municipalities with composting programs, and a great section on food waste and composting.
- Bedford, NH Transfer Station: food waste composting.
- Renewal Garden & Compost: a local company that offers weekly or bi-weekly compost pickup (for a fee) at your home.
- Lebanon, NH Food Waste Drop-off Program: food scraps will be composted and used onsite for erosion control.
What Goes into Your Compost Bin? (with a service)
If your compost is getting picked up by a commercial service, or you’re dropping it off somewhere, they will tell you what is able to be composted. Often, commercial services accept a wider variety of items than might be considered compostable in a backyard compost pile. This is because they’re composting at an industrial scale and able to control for environmental factors, which allows them to break down hardier organic materials, such as compostable utensils and to-go containers.
However, you have to be careful about what you’re putting into the compost bin! Many “compostable” products contain PFAS, a family of toxic chemicals that don’t break down easily or quickly. A town in Massachusetts found that a composting company was unwittingly responsible for PFAS chemical contamination. PFAS is unfortunately found in many, many products (such as takeout containers, including many ‘compostable’ containers); systemic action is needed!
