How to Find Free Compost Ingredients
Ask your local coffee shop if they throw out used coffee grinds., Inquire with local lumberyards and home improvement stores for free sawdust., Collect newspapers., Contact local dairies, feedlots, or cattle operations for composted cow manure...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Ask your local coffee shop if they throw out used coffee grinds.
Coffee grinds are an excellent acidic amendment to soil, so use ash or lime to balance the pH. -
Step 2: Inquire with local lumberyards and home improvement stores for free sawdust.
Be sure to use sawdust only from untreated wood. , Separate the newspaper from the glossy inserts, and shred the paper to make it compost more quickly. , The ideal manure has been composting for at least 2 years. ,, Make sure that it is only from herbivorous creatures as the carnivorous droppings often contain parasites harmful to your health. ,,, A few cities such as San Francisco are now offering free compost starter kits. , Your neighbors are bound to have a lot of potential compost.
Talk to them about composting, and ask if they will save their scrap vegetables and the like for you or if you can collect their yard waste.
Many municipalities now offer regular yard waste pickup; if your neighbors use this, you can simply ask them to let you collect the yard waste from their bins. , Some people have fire pits in their yards, or bring a 5 gallon (18.9 L) bucket with you when you go camping, and add the cold wood ash to the mix.
Just make sure you are only burning untreated wood or paper in your fire.
Wood ashes are highly alkaline (high pH) so should be added in small quantities.
Sea and lake vegetation is remarkably nutrient rich and makes a great addition to your compost, but it is also unsustainable as the tidelands and shores need those nutrients for their own ecosystems.
If you live near the ocean, you can probably collect plenty of seaweed.
Check your bylaws to make sure seaweed collection is legal in your area.
Whenever you build compost, try to make sure that you are not removing ingredients from a setting where they would be composted- the forest, the shore, parks, etc.
The point is to bring nutrients back into the life cycle that were destined for the landfill.
By taking organic matter from a place that would benefit from the compost it makes you would be perpetrating the destruction of ecosystems. -
Step 3: Collect newspapers.
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Step 4: Contact local dairies
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Step 5: feedlots
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Step 6: or cattle operations for composted cow manure.
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Step 7: Call a local food processing plant to inquire if they have any left over organic material.
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Step 8: Visit your local zoo and ask about retrieving compost from the exhibit animals.
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Step 9: Place cardboard over a bed of worms to create worm castings and heavily nutritious composting materials.
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Step 10: Visit Christmas tree lots for mulched trees; many cities and communities recycle Christmas trees
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Step 11: so mulch might be available from this seasonal source.
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Step 12: Contact your city government.
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Step 13: Be neighborly.
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Step 14: Wood Ash is also an excellent soil amendment.
Detailed Guide
Coffee grinds are an excellent acidic amendment to soil, so use ash or lime to balance the pH.
Be sure to use sawdust only from untreated wood. , Separate the newspaper from the glossy inserts, and shred the paper to make it compost more quickly. , The ideal manure has been composting for at least 2 years. ,, Make sure that it is only from herbivorous creatures as the carnivorous droppings often contain parasites harmful to your health. ,,, A few cities such as San Francisco are now offering free compost starter kits. , Your neighbors are bound to have a lot of potential compost.
Talk to them about composting, and ask if they will save their scrap vegetables and the like for you or if you can collect their yard waste.
Many municipalities now offer regular yard waste pickup; if your neighbors use this, you can simply ask them to let you collect the yard waste from their bins. , Some people have fire pits in their yards, or bring a 5 gallon (18.9 L) bucket with you when you go camping, and add the cold wood ash to the mix.
Just make sure you are only burning untreated wood or paper in your fire.
Wood ashes are highly alkaline (high pH) so should be added in small quantities.
Sea and lake vegetation is remarkably nutrient rich and makes a great addition to your compost, but it is also unsustainable as the tidelands and shores need those nutrients for their own ecosystems.
If you live near the ocean, you can probably collect plenty of seaweed.
Check your bylaws to make sure seaweed collection is legal in your area.
Whenever you build compost, try to make sure that you are not removing ingredients from a setting where they would be composted- the forest, the shore, parks, etc.
The point is to bring nutrients back into the life cycle that were destined for the landfill.
By taking organic matter from a place that would benefit from the compost it makes you would be perpetrating the destruction of ecosystems.
About the Author
Kimberly Diaz
Dedicated to helping readers learn new skills in hobbies and beyond.
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