Composting is the most practical and convenient way to handle your yard wastes. It can be easier and cheaper than bagging these wastes or taking them to the transfer station. Compost also improves your soil and the plants growing in it. If you have a garden, a lawn, trees, shrubs, or even planter boxes, you have a use for compost.
By using compost, your return organic matter to the soil in a usable form. Organic matter in the soil improves plant growth by helping to break up heavy clay soils and improving their structure, by adding water and nutrient-holding capacity to sandy soil, and by adding essential nutrients to any soil. Improving your soil is the first step toward improving the health of your plants. Healthy plants help clean our air and conserve our soil, making our communities healthier places to live.
What Can You Compost?
Anything that was once alive can be composted. Yard wastes, such as fallen leaves, grass clippings, weeds and the remains of garden plants, make excellent compost. Woody yard wastes can be clipped and sawed down to a size useful for the wood stove or fireplace or they can be run through a shredder for mulching and path-making. Used as a mulch or for plants, they will eventually decompose and become compost.
Care must be taken when composting kitchen scraps. Compost them only by the methods outlined in this brochure. Meat, bones, and fatty foods (such as cheese, salad dressing, and leftover cooking oil) should be put in the garbage.