Home Composting for Beginners, How to Start and What to Add

Composting turns food scraps and yard trimmings into rich soil, and keeps a surprising amount of waste out of the landfill. About a third of household trash is organic material that could be composting instead. It is also easier to start than most people think.

This is a beginner's guide to home composting: where to put it, what to add, how to keep it healthy, and how to collect scraps without the mess.

Pick a spot and a bin

You have options no matter how much space you have:

• Outdoor pile or bin. Choose a spot with partial shade and good drainage. A simple open pile works, but an enclosed bin or a tumbler keeps things tidy and keeps animals out.
• Small space or no yard. Keep a countertop caddy for scraps and drop them at a local compost site or use a pickup service. A worm bin or a bokashi bucket lets you compost indoors.

What to compost, and what to skip

A healthy pile is a balance of two things:

• Greens (nitrogen): fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea, fresh grass clippings.
• Browns (carbon): dry leaves, shredded cardboard and paper, wood chips.
• Skip in a backyard pile: meat, dairy, and oily foods, which draw pests, plus pet waste.

How to build and balance the pile

Start with a few inches of coarse material like small sticks for airflow, then add browns and greens in layers, aiming for more browns than greens overall. Keep the pile about as damp as a wrung-out sponge, and turn it every one to two weeks to add air. If it is balanced, it should smell earthy, not sour.

Collect scraps the easy way

The part that trips people up is the daily collection. A small caddy on the counter, lined with a compostable bag, makes it simple: when it is full, tip the bag and scraps straight into the pile or bin. Plastno's compostable trash bags are BPI certified for commercial composting facilities and TUV OK Compost HOME certified for backyard piles, so the bag breaks down along with the scraps inside it rather than fishing it back out.

Troubleshooting a slow or smelly pile

• It smells. Usually too wet or too many greens. Add browns and turn it.
• Pests are showing up. Bury fresh scraps under browns, switch to an enclosed bin, and leave out meat and dairy.
• Nothing is breaking down. Often too dry or short on greens. Add water and a few greens, then turn.

When it is ready and how to use it

Finished compost is dark and crumbly, smells like soil, and has no recognizable food bits left. Depending on your setup and the weather, that takes anywhere from two to six months. Mix it into garden beds and pots, or spread a thin layer over the lawn as a natural fertilizer.