top of page
Search

How to make compost at home

Hello again readers of Way to Zero Waste. As we already told you in an older post about the benefits of compost, today we are going to show you the steps to make compost at home in a very simple way.



What can I compost?


What you can use to make your compost is anything that provides carbon and nitrogen.


Here are some items that you can compost:

  • Raw or cooked fruit and vegetable scraps.

  • Yerba mate

  • Coffee or tea grounds

  • Grass clippings

  • Orchard or garden plants

  • Shredded or chopped branches from pruning (up to 3 centimeters thick)

  • Bushes and shrubs

  • Medicinal plants

  • Fallen leaves from trees and shrubs (avoiding walnut and royal laurel)

  • Grass clippings

  • Organic food scraps in general (not meat)

  • Eggshells (better crushed because they take time to decompose)

  • Leftovers from herbal teas (be careful that the paper is organic and without dyes)

  • Napkins and paper handkerchiefs (not printed or colored)

  • Haircuts (not dyed)

  • Raw wool or wool from old mattresses (in small layers and mixed)

  • Remnants of wine, vinegar, beer or spirits

  • Edible oils and fats (very scattered and in small quantity)

  • Nut shells

  • Orange, citrus or pineapple peels (few and chopped)

  • Ashes (sprinkled and pre-wetted)

  • Sawdust shavings (in small quantity)

  • Paper and cardboard (without color ink printing); better to recycle them.

  • Vegetable sponges (of the models that we have in circulonatural.com are compostable those that do not have added any type of other material)

  • Bamboo toothbrush handle (MERAKI is a brand we sell in circulonatural.com, the 3% is made up of bristles, that is extracted and recycled)

  • Wooden combs and brushes (from nature to nature, if you have to buy a new one check the models we have in circulonatural.com).


The following cannot be composted:

  • Bread: this includes any bakery by-product because they generate fungi.

  • Cooked oil: its smell attracts insects

  • Sick plants: it spreads fungi.

  • Colored printed paper: because it contains a large amount of chemicals that are toxic to plants.

  • Human or animal feces: because of the bacteria they may contain.

  • Meat products: attract pests and generate bad odor.

  • Dairy products: their odor is attractive to pests.

  • Rice: is a breeding ground for bacteria.

  • Sawdust: Although it can be good to include it in the layers to dry, only a small amount should be used, since it alters the degree of acidity.

  • Remains of tobacco

  • Citrus peels (in large quantities).

  • Contents of vacuum cleaner bags

  • Wood ash and charcoal (in large quantities due to the harmful substances they contain).

(Via: Circulo Natural)




Types of compost


1. Common compost


The common compost is the most common and simple to make homemade compost and depends mainly on the way and place in which we are going to apply the organic matter. To elaborate well this type of compost, we must make a correct separation and maintain a