Composting in an urban environment: It’s easier than you’d think
Kirsten Wilmeth
I used to believe that if I threw away food scraps it would just decompose and disappear. Now I know better. If biodegradable waste ends up in a landfill, it will breakdown without the presence of oxygen and release harmful methane gas into the atmosphere. So instead of going away, the banana peel in my trashcan contribute to climate change.
To reduce our negative impact on the world, we must take steps to minimize the output of greenhouse gases. According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, landfills are the third largest source of CH4 (methane) emissions in the United States. Even the small act of choosing to save strawberry tops for composting helps make a positive impact on the world because it protects the atmosphere and provides fertilizer for organic farmers.
Contrary to popular knowledge, you don’t have to live in the country or have a yard to compost there are many methods for city-folk too such as compost drop off locations, tumblers, or even worm bins.
One method that is available to Austinites is Curbside Composting. The city introduced this service in 2013 and has expanded it to 90,000 residential homes that have access to curbside trash and recycling. There is one dollar monthly increase to the base pick-up fee for the new resource. The city recommends that to offset this cost people should downsize their trash cart.
This is the easiest method to dispose of organic materials in an environmentally conscious way because the bins are emptied weekly on the same day as landfill trash. It is also convenient because the limitations on what can be composted are much broader than do-it-yourself options, one can put items such as cooked or raw meat, poultry and seafood (including bones), cheese and dairy products which should not be composted at home due to the possibility of pests.
As easy as the city’s compost initiative is, it only services a fraction of households, so Austinites who are trying to go green need to know about alternative methods of composting.
APARTMENT COMPOSTING
More than 52 percent of Austinites live in an apartment, condominium or other multifamily residences, according to the City of Austin Website. With no system in place for city-provided apartment composting, residents have to turn to alternative methods that require more effort.
One option for apartment dwellers is to collect their compost throughout the week in the freezer, to minimize smell and decomposition, and drop it off at a Texas Farmers Market location on Saturday or Sunday mornings. There are two locations to drop off the compost, the Muller farmers’ market or the Lakeline location.
Another way is to compost using a worm bin, this method is called Vermicomposting. This requires two bins or containers of some sort and worms as the main components. A tutorial to make a vermicompost bin at home can be found on the EPA website, and costs under $30.
Rachel Marquez has worm bins in her apartment. The Sustainability major at the University of Texas at Austin composts because she is moving towards a zero-waste lifestyle.
“It was overwhelming to have 500 worms show up at my apartment,” Marquez said. However, they are so easy to maintain sometimes she forgets they’re even there.
To keep the worms thriving, they should be fed once a week and harvested about once a month. This entails scooping out the liquid from the lower bin to use as fertilizer for plants as well as collecting the nutrient-rich material the worms live in. To do this, Marquez sets up a lamp to shine on one side of the bin and puts books on the other. Worms don’t like light so they migrate away from it to the darkness, allowing her to harvest without harming any worms.
“People always ask me if they smell, but they don’t at all,” Marquez said.
HOW TO MAKE A HOME VERMICOMPOSTER
Materials:
- 2 plastic bins, one taller an 18-gallon storage tub works well and one which is shorter so that the tall bin can sit in it
- 1 drill
- Plastic or vinyl screening material
- Waterproof glue
- Shredded paper, avoid heavy, shiny and colored
- 1lb of chemical-free dirt such as organic potting soil
- ½ cup of water
- 500 red wrigglers or earthworms, available on Amazon or from Texas Worm Ranch
- Trowel
- Food scraps container, a small container with a tightly fitting top to collect vegetable and fruit scraps
Directions:
Prepare the bins by drilling a 1-inch hole about two inches from the top of the taller bin on one side, then drill a hole on the opposite side. These holes allow the worms to breathe. Then drill four ⅛-inch holes close to the bottom of the same bin near the corners. These holes allow the leachate, liquid released from the composting process, to drain. Then cover the holes with the screening material and secure with the glue. Place the taller bin into the shorter one. No holes are to be drilled into the shorter bin.
Combine the shredded paper and soil with enough water to moisten it all, then add the mixture to the tall bin up to three inches deep. Next, add the worms and let them acclimate for a day before beginning the feeding process.
To feed the worms, use a trowel and dig a hole, put a small handful of shredded paper into the hole then add food scraps, avoiding animal byproducts, and cover with dirt and damp paper. Add dirt and paper until the worms have created enough compost to cover the scraps.
When the bin is full, harvest the worm castings and enjoy a rich natural fertilizer that aids plants in nutrient absorption as well as the soil’s moisture retention.
RESIDENTIAL COMPOSTING
Even if you live in a home, not all households have the opportunity of city bins. One choice that homes have is a compost tumbler, or in-vessel composting. This can be kept in a garage for more climate control or outdoors due to space.
This option is more expensive than vermicomposting, with a cost upwards of $90, and is more convenient than a ground heap because it doesn’t require using a pitchfork to turn a heap and won’t attract rodents as it is enclosed.
Molly Costigan, Hyde Park Community Garden leader, recently switched the garden’s compost method from a heap to a tumbler.
“Due to an unfortunate coincidence around an increased volume of compost and a decrease in our volunteers we ended up with a rodent problem and had to cut way back,” Costigan said. The tumblers allow gardeners to keep their food scraps out of landfills, however, according to Costigan, they don’t generate enough material to contribute much to the garden plots.
A final compost method is a heap or pile. This requires the most space of all the methods as well as the most physical labor and attention because if it is not properly cared for it will attract rodents. It needs about twice the size of the pile’s footprint, so there is room to turn it. A typical pile’s base will be roughly six feet so you would need a twelve-foot area of land to begin the heap. The site should also be in partial to full shade.
To have a heap that produces compost every few months, special care must be taken to ensure that the proper materials are added and that the temperature remains constant. This involves a two parts carbon to one part nitrogen method, meaning double the ‘brown’ items such as dried leaves, tree trimmings, and shredded paper to ‘green’ items including grass and fruit and vegetable waste.
Once the pile is built, it must be properly aerated to achieve the ideal heat of 145 degrees Fahrenheit so it needs turning daily for the first few weeks. Once the heap is established the turning can be reduced to once or twice a month.
Another thing to keep track of is the moisture of the compost, it should have a 50 percent moisture level. It is recommended that watering the pile be done as layers are added, with brown layers needing more water than green layers.
Finally, the pile will enter the curing stage where the middle will begin to cool, turn the pile one more time, ensure it is in contact with the ground, then let it rest for one to four months. This allows for a much finer breakdown of materials and produces compost that is rich in helpful fungi and bacteria.
With numerous simple ways to compost, it is up to each of us to choose slight inconvenience for the reward of a less wasteful way of life.
