By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
When it comes to recycling, you probably sort out glass and
plastic products from your household
trash and maybe even save newspapers for the local Boy Scout
troop. But what about yesterday’s
banana peel and the spent grounds from this morning’s java?
Composting your household vegetable and fruit waste is a form
of recycling, too. You’re keeping
those items out of the landfill and creating plant food.
Compost is the organic matter that remains after microbes have
decomposed your fresh vegetable
rinds and grass clippings. It doesn’t sound appealing, but soil
and plants think it’s yummy.
Composting newbie
I have to be honest. As a science writer for the University of
Georgia, I’ve worked around
agricultural scientists for the past 12 years. But I’m a
composting newbie.
When I decided to take the composting plunge, I gathered tips
from my veteran-composting friends,
all of whom happen to be UGA Cooperative Extension specialists. I
learned that a compost bin could
be a large plastic drum, a wire bin or even just a true pile. You
can put as little or as much money
and effort into your compost bin as you’d like.
Living on a 6-acre homestead in middle Georgia, I have a bit
of an advantage over metro
homeowners. I don’t have to worry about whether my bin has curb
appeal or is neighbor-friendly.
My nearest neighbor is an acre away.
I decided to use an old horse trough as my compost bin (yet
another form of recycling). Be sure to
place your bin in a convenient outdoor place. You don’t want it
so far removed that using it will be
a chore.
And since you don’t want to constantly trek back and forth
from your kitchen to the compost bin,
you need a collecting bin indoors. I chose a small plastic bucket
that easily fits under my kitchen
sink.
New habit formed quickly
I was amazed by how quickly I adjusted to composting. For a
week or so, I caught myself heading
to the trash can with an apple core or the shriveled remains of a
head of lettuce. But before long, it
became second nature.
I was also surprised by how quickly my daughters latched onto
the concept. My 12-year-old is
wholeheartedly into composting. She even questions me as to
whether something fits the
“composting bill.”
She helps me when I break down the veggie remains before I put
them in the bin, too. (I like to speed
the progress along, so I cut my fresh vegetable waste into small
pieces.)
My friend Krissy is the queen of composting. She has four
compost bins in various stages. She
composts shredded paper from her office and banana peels and
apple cores from her lunches. She
even “feeds” her bins paper towels and dryer lint.
Her son Jack, a 4-H’er and Boy Scout, is just as dedicated to
composting. When they enter
Starbucks, they leave with a bag of spent coffee grounds.
They also love to watch the sides of their compost bins for
mystery plants. Krissy has a three-foot
tall avocado plant that got its start in one of her bins. I had a
nice-sized potato plant in mine until the
first Georgia frost killed it.
For me, the true moment of composting glory was the day my
16-year-old daughter slam-dunked a
banana peel into the composting collection bucket. No, I wasn’t
amazed by her basketball skills. My
amazement and pride came from the fact that she did so of her own
free will.
Now, if I could somehow convince both my girls that picking up
after themselves helps the
environment.
