SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Most homes have a trash bin and recycle bin, but some also have a composting bin. People compost to minimize their carbon footprint and be more environmentally friendly.
Composting is when organic matter like food scraps and leaves are recycled back into the ecosystem. It helps to enrich soil, which provides plants with more nutrients.
It also helps to keep food out of landfills and waterways which is important for the environment because it turns into a destructive greenhouse gas called methane when it sits there.
There are a few ways to take part in composting. First off, you'll want to buy a composting bin.
Keep a composting bin in your yard to dump food scraps and brown items in. Every few days give it a spin and it will eventually turn into a soil-like matter.
Even if you don't have a yard, you can still compost. There are smaller composting bins that you can keep right on your counter. Then, when you've filled it up, there are actually composting communities where you can take it to drop off.
Here in Sacramento there's a drop off at the Midtown Farmers Market on Saturdays where there are bins set up. Re-Soil Sacramento is the non-profit that puts out and picks up the bins. You can see other drop off locations on their website.
When composting, it's important that for every one part of food scraps you have two to four parts of brown things. This includes things like leaves, grass clippings, brown paper bags and toilet paper rolls.
Other things that can be composted:
- Fruit and Vegetable Peels
- Coffee Grounds
- Loose Leaf Tea
- Citrus Rinds
- Old Herbs and Spices
- Juice Pulp
- Old Oats
- Stale Bread
- Peanut Shells
- Dead Flowers
- Used Napkins (best if unbleached)
- Paper Towel Tubes
- Used Paper Coffee Filters
- Pine Needles
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