To be straightforward, I love composting, this kind of magic turns garbage into high-quality organic fertilizer, make my backyard as colorful and vibrant as a royal garden, started as rubbish and ended up with a beautiful garden, all I need is a little hand work and enough patience, this process brought me a lot of fulfillment and expectation, So I love to share my composting methods and experiences with my friends, however, based on feedback from my friends, they often make a stinky, gooey pile, or no composting happen at all, there seems to be a serious deviation in the process, and I have summed up a lot of experiences here, the most important one is that many things can't actually be composted.
hope this article can help you.
WHAT NOT TO COMPOST FROM THE KITCHEN
Meat, fish, bones, dairy, eggs, regarding food waste, this is most likely the biggest "don't compost it ".These materials can be composted in a few specialized indoor composters but not in your compost bin or Bokashi bin. These things are also inedible to worms. In essence, meat items boost the temperature of your compost bin, which makes it smell. Of course, anything that smells bad will draw pests like raccoons, rodents, and maggots.
And the smell, I forgot to mention how awful the smell can be, composting these protein rich stuff in a home environment can give off a pretty scary smell, and you go crazy and dig a big hole in your backyard hoping to destroy the horrible smell , your neighbors suspect you just murdered someone now you are dealing with body, so he called the police, yes, this happened to my friend and he still complains that I didn't tell him the detailed guidelines for composting.
Butter, cooking oil, animal fat, and grease, or shall i say any fat based condiments and foods,they don't smell much, but oil and water just don’t mix. these materials won't decompose because moisture is essential to the composting process. Instead, they'll change your compost bin’s moisture balance and draw pests.
Coffee pods and tea bags, Stickers on fruits and vegetables, Coated cardboard packaging, plastic bags and cellophane, any food packaging with either a plastic or foil layer is not suitable for your compost bin. This means waxy lined paper cups, milk cartons, and juice boxes, and foil-lined paper snack cracker and cookie bags. Takeaway coffee cups are generally not compostable, as for coffee bags and tea bags, if they are cotton products, they can be composted, but in fact most of the coffee bags or tea bags on the market are PET products, which cannot be degraded.To sum it up, In addition to composting bags with a sign dedicated to home composting, no plastic should end up in a composter.
WHAT NOT TO COMPOST FROM THE YARD
Large branches or pieces of wood, these large pieces of wood cannot be broken down quickly, it can take years to completely break down, please made it into small pieces and than put them in the compost bin. but treated lumber can not go to the compost bin, any lumber destined as construction materials is typically coated with harmful water repellant, the compounds will increase their resistance to moisture and resistance to biodegradation. They won't disintegrate for a very long time.
If you have nice lawn, and you just got a lot of Lawn trimmings recently treated with pesticides or herbicides, don't put it in the composter, numerous grasses have undergone some sort of chemical treatment. Those materials can be safely broken down during the composting process, but only in small quantities. A freshly treated lawn shouldn't be placed near your compost until the concentration has had time to diminish and dilute because lawns are normally treated with high concentrations, Wait for few weeks.
Coal ash and Synthetic fertilizer, the ash left by burning wood is a nice compost material, but the ash from burning coal is not. It is the same as synthetic fertilizer, It contains too many chemicals harmful to the composting process. Putting it in the composting bin may stop the whole composting process.
WHAT NOT TO COMPOST FROM THE HOME
Humans feces and diapers, Used feminine hygiene products, like blood, human feces poses a major health risk, anything with blood can contain hard-to-kill pathogens which can be transferred to your compost. You can compost reusable cotton liners but only if they’ve been thoroughly washed.
Vacuum cleaner contents, Dryer lint, Synthetic fabric of any kind,These contain all sorts of harmful chemicals and dyes. Even if your t-shirt is 99% Cotton and just 1% polyester, it can’t be composted. The smallest amount of these fibers can ruin a compost batch.
Leather products: This means worn out belts, wallets, purses gloves etc. Not to mention synthetic leather, even natural leather, it can takes years to properly decompose, especially since most leather accessories are treated with life-extending materials.
Dog and cat feces and litter: Carnivorous / omnivorous animals’ intestines can be host to a wide range of resilient parasites and pathogens. This type of feces must be composted separately in special high-temperature pet composters.
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