How to Compost Food at Home

Compost your apple cores and peels.

Think of all the potential compost you waste as you cook dinner. Potato peels, carrot tops, eggshells and broccoli stems are all "waste" products you can recycle and use as nutritious compost for the soil in your garden. Composting at home is easy, saves space in landfills, reduces the use of plastic garbage bags and is beneficial for your flowers, plants and vegetables. All you have to do is feed the worms.

Things You'll Need

• Large plastic bin with lid
• Electric drill
• Cement blocks
• 1 lb. redworms
• Shredded newspaper or dead leaves
• Few handfuls of dirt or peat
• Food scraps
• Black plastic garbage bag

Instructions

1. Drill holes in the bottom of your plastic container with an electric drill to provide aeration and drainage. Set the container outdoors on concrete blocks to allow moisture to leach out through the bottom and air to circulate around the bin.

2. Fill the bin three-quarters full with shredded newspaper, dead leaves or peat moss. Throw in a few handfuls of plain topsoil to help the worms' digestive systems. Add water until the mixture is moist but not soggy. Add the worms.

3. Begin adding food scraps daily: potato peels, moldy bread, fruit remnants, coffee grounds and tea bags. Avoid composting dairy products, fat trimmings, meat or fish, according to the Maryland Cooperative Extension. These will produce odors and attract insects and animals. Pull aside some of the bedding, drop the scraps in and cover them up. Cover the bedding with a folded, black plastic garbage bag.

4. Keep the bin consistently three-quarters full by adding more pre-moistened leaves or newspapers as needed. The worms will consume the bedding right along with the scraps.

5. Remove "vermicompost" from the bottom of the bin after several months, and add it to your garden. To avoid removing the worms along with the compost, feed them on one side of the box for a few weeks prior. The worms will move to where the new food is, and you can remove what's on the other side.

Tips & Warnings

• If a bin isn't practical, simply bury compostable material directly under the soil with a shovel. Just be sure all the decaying material is well underground and not on the surface when you plant your garden.

• Don't let the bin freeze, or you will need to start over.

References

• Washington State University: Kitchen Waste Composting
• Oregon State University: Let Worms Turn Your Food Scraps into Beautiful Compost
• Maryland Cooperative Extension: Indoor Redworm Composting

Resources

• Ohio State University: Composting at Home
• Washington State University: Cheap & Easy Worm Bin