Non-Edible Composting Items

In addition to the acceptable food scraps you can use to compost there are many different organic items you can add too. Some of the items on the list may surprise you while others will be ones you have heard of before. Just remember, by composting these items you are reducing the amount of waste that your home produces.

Additional Composting Materials:

* Lint collected from your dryer
* Cardboard, cut into strips or small pieces
* Hair, make sure that is isn’t put in as one large clump
* Manure (from a horse, pig, or cow)
* Tree leaves, cutting or chipping them helps them break down faster
* Newspaper (considered brown food), cut into strips. Do not use the glossy pages and do not add too much (it can dry out the pile)
* Pine needles and pine cones
* Coffee grounds and paper filter
* Sawdust and wood chips (or shavings) as long as it is from untreated wood.
* Straw – even better if it is used straw from horse bedding
* Grass clippings (green food)
* Seaweed or algae (you can get these from your home aquarium)

There are a few considerations to think about when choosing from the above list of items. If you do use dryer lint, it would be wise to only use it from cycles when you washed clothes with natural fibers – man-made fibers would not breakdown in your compost. If you are using your compost for your garden be extra careful that everything you add has
not been treated – such as grass clippings. If any type of commercial fertilizer or pesticide has been sprayed on the grass do not add it to your compost bin. Larger items should be broken down as much as possible to speed up their decomposition.