Composting: Gold for Your Garden

by Krystina Jarvis
A Drop in the Ocean Zero Waste Blog: Composting — Gold For Your Garden: Why Composting Matters + How to Compost Wherever You Live
Listen to the audio of this post here:

This post first appeared in our weekly Make Waves Mondays email series on June 22, 2026.

 

Hello hello!

I'm out of the office on my annual Birthday Break, but that doesn't mean the blog gotta go out of office, too! Today's blog post is coming to you from your fellow EcoWarrior and ADITO's resident Research Assistant, Fia Turczynewycz.

Fia's passion for sustainability and conservation is unmatched, and I'm so thrilled that she's sharing her knowledge and excitement about the world of composting with us in this blog. There's SO MUCH good info in here and I honestly cannot wait for you to dive in 😍

And if you want the full experience, Fia has even recorded the audio today herself, so you can hear the whole thing in her own voice!

So without further ado...let's dive in 👇

 


Composting: Gold for Your Garden

A Guest Post by Fia Turczynewycz

 

Hello, Eco-Warriors! 

It is my pleasure to share my love of compost with you. This love affair with compost, or black gold, started about 20 years ago when I began my career in environmental education, conservation and sustainability in Cincinnati, OH. I had heard about compost through the grapevine, but never really practiced it growing up, despite my deep love and admiration for Mama Nature.  As I dove into my career, a common topic that came up was compost — everyone was talking about it. How to do it, when to do it, why to do it, where to do it, what to do with it. My interest was piqued. I grew up with gardeners, how have I never heard of this before? I soaked up every bit of information I could, I started composting myself, and I haven’t looked back since.

But, what is compost? 

The US Composting Council’s official definition for it is “the product manufactured through the controlled aerobic, biological decomposition of biodegradable materials. The product has undergone mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures, which significantly reduces the viability of pathogens and weed seeds, and stabilizes the carbon, such that it is beneficial to plant growth.” 

Compost, essentially, is a living soil amendment. It is dark and crumbly, smells amazing, and is produced by the natural decomposition of organic materials like leaves, garden trimmings and food scraps.

This is a big deal because more than half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions from landfills come from wasted food. Did you know that a landfill is essentially a giant tupperware container? Anything that is thrown in the landfill is contained, and any organic matter that would typically break down quickly, takes years. A carrot in a landfill will still look like a carrot up to 10 years later, but if composted, can break down in weeks. The USDA estimates that up to 40 percent of the food supply in the US becomes food waste, which is currently the single most common material landfilled in the U.S. Once in the landfill, that food becomes a major contributor to methane emissions.

So composting is great because it can help reduce food waste, thus reducing methane emissions. During the composting process, all kinds of bacteria, fungi, earthworms, and other microorganisms feed on the organic materials within the compost pile. They use carbon and nitrogen provided by what you feed your pile to continue to grow and reproduce, and break down the material even more, turning it into compost, a natural way of returning nutrients to the soil. 

The average American produces about 4-4.5lbs of trash every day (Faraz et al, 2022). A good portion of that trash is organic material that could transform into that living soil amendment under the right conditions. 

But this magical stuff can do even more. The benefits of composting are truly endless. Farmers benefit from using compost because of its natural fertilizing capability, rather than using expensive chemicals. When I started composting personally, and because I was already recycling, I noticed that I only had to put my trash out once a month (sometimes longer) rather than every week. A nice reduction in chore time and trash bag costs (every little bit helps)! 

Karen Mitchell, a consumer horticulture extension specialist, told Purdue University that composting benefits go far beyond that. "Waste reduction is as good as any reason to compost. While the benefits of composting are numerous to our gardens, now more than ever, we need to look for ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Instead of filling up our landfills, where waste's benefits are not realized, we can compost, which can have a dramatic effect on the environment by aiding in the carbon disharmony we have.”

The many, many benefits of composting can be broken down into a few categories: 

Composting Reduces Waste

Composting Enriches and Builds Healthy Soils

  • Amends and feeds your soil

  • Can bind heavy metals so your plants don’t absorb them

  • Reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides 

  • Suppresses plant disease

  • Increases soil aeration

  • Prevents erosion by reducing soil compaction and runoff

  • Builds the structure of your soil and improves the soil’s ability to hold on to essential nutrients

  • Can produce healthier plants, higher quality fruits and higher yields of agricultural crops

  • Improves soil health and fertility

  • Increases the nutrient content and biodiversity of microbes in the soil

  • Helps regenerate poor soil and remediates soils that have been depleted by overuse or contain contaminants.

Composting Conserves Water

Composting Increases Adaptation and Resilience

  • Reduces our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions

  • Cuts methane emissions from landfills

  • Creates green jobs

  • Extends municipal landfill life by diverting organic materials

  • Improves a community’s ability to adapt to extreme weather by helping soil absorb water and prevent runoff of pollutants during floods. It also helps soil hold more water for longer, mitigating the effects of drought.

  • Sequesters carbon in the soil

  • Strengthens sustainable, local food production when locally generated food scraps and other organic materials are used to create a valuable soil amendment that supports plant growth

  • Anyone can do it, and it is easy to do at home

Composting has so many benefits! Are you ready to try it yet? 

Even George Washington himself was a composter! History accounts tell us he was America’s first composter, though I am sure the Native Americans composted in their own way as well. 

Michelle Balz, one of my colleagues in the environmental education world of Cincinnati, has authored two books that are wonderful resources for someone just starting out, or someone wanting to dive deeper. 

There are a few different ways you can compost at home in your yard. 

All you need is some shaded space (if the compost pile gets too hot, it could kill the microorganisms doing all the work), a bin of some sort, and a location that is close to your kitchen but not too close as you don’t want to attract wildlife to your backdoor. 

Composting is a mix of food scraps, yard waste and other organic material. Basically, if it came from a plant, you can compost it. 

For home composting, avoid cooked foods, fats, oils, meats and dairy products as it can either attract wildlife to your pile or it could harm the microbes that are in your pile. You’ll want a 3:1 ratio of brown material (high in carbon) to green materials (high in nitrogen). 

The key ingredients to composting are:

  • Greens. Fruit and vegetable scraps, bread, crackers, pasta, coffee grounds, loose tea, green grass, green plants, manure and bedding from herbivores.

  • Browns. Brown leaves, dead plants and flowers, straw, pine needles, sawdust and wood chips, shredded newspaper, small pieces of bushes and shrubs.

  • Air. Oxygen is an important part to the process, so you’ll occasionally want to aerate your pile or even mix it thoroughly.

  • Water. Helps keep the microorganisms alive, but you don’t want a soggy pile.

If you chop the material up into smaller pieces before placing it in your compost bin, it will break down quicker. 

When you add your kitchen scraps, always cover with leaves or other brown material to help reduce odor and fruit flies. 

Pay attention to any weeds you add to the pile — if they have gone to seed, those seeds will likely be in your finished compost. 

If your pile is drier and takes a long time to break down, it has too much brown (carbon) material. If it is too slimy, wet and smelly, it has too much green (nitrogen) material. 

Don’t have a backyard? 

Don’t fret! You can still compost. 

I recently moved to Maine to farm, and after my farm apprenticeship had ended, I started living in rentals for 6 months at a time. I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to compost for the first time in 20 years, but thankfully the towns I stayed in had a community composting program where I would drop off my food waste for free. And because they were bigger compost sites, they could accept materials like meat, dairy and cooked foods in the bins. 

Metal trash cans labeled "Mixed Recylce", "Trash", and "Food + Soiled Paper" at the entrance to a farmer's market

Many cities have these types of programs, some with a small cost, and some even have a curbside pick up program. It might be at the city services area, or within a community garden area in your neighborhood. 

Many apartment dwellers and families with young kids try their hand at vermicomposting — using red wriggler worms to break down your food scraps. 

If you have the ability to invest in one, you could purchase composters like a Lomi, the Mill or the Reencle. Or you can see if your local farmers need additional compost for their own piles. Your farmer’s market is a great way to start these conversations, or with your local soil and water conservation district. 

Now I have my own space in Maine, and got to create my compost bin. The last bin I created was a common three bin system out of pallets. 

Wooden pallets arranged in a corner of a garden, creating three distinct stalls

This time, my partner and I just reused a black trash can the previous owners left behind. He drilled holes in the bottom for drainage, and along the sides for aeration. We placed some sticks at the bottom for more drainage and aeration, and then dumped our bucket of kitchen scraps on top, followed by 3 buckets full of dried up leaves, smaller sticks and other yard waste material. We covered the top with the lid sealed with a bungee cord, and placed it in a shady spot on top of a few cinder blocks.  

Side by side images of a black trash can composter with steps 1-3 as described above: sticks, kitchen scraps dried leaves

There really aren’t any disadvantages to composting. 

You can be as active or as passive as you want, providing you have the space. The more active you are, the quicker the pile will break down and transform into that rich, crumbly compost. If the balance of nitrogen to carbon is off, there could be odor or fly issues, but there are ways to troubleshoot that. If your pile is huge and starts to have a liquidy runoff (called leachate), then there might be bigger issues to deal with but that doesn’t often happen with household composting. 

Once you have finished compost (dark, rich, crumbly, barely any recognizable food scraps left), there are a number of ways to use it.  You can get a compost screener (or make one), to sift out any bigger items remaining. Then use the black gold in and around your garden beds! You can also use it to top dress your potted plants. Or share with friends, family members and neighbors if you don’t have a garden. 

Households aren’t the only ones composting. 

There are so many cool composting stories happening around the globe, but I want to share a few that are near and dear to me. 

When I lived in Cincinnati, OH, I worked for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden running their sustainability and community engagement programs. (It is how I met Krystina!) During my time there, they had been deemed the Greenest Zoo in America and were working hard towards becoming zero waste. As you can imagine, a zoo creates A LOT of organic material. About 80% of the zoo’s waste is generated from the animals and the cafe. They composted what they could, and have partnered with Harp Renewables with an on-site biodigestor. How cool is that? Now instead of sending tons of organic waste and “Zoo Doo” to the landfill, they will be transforming it to nutrient rich compost right on site. 

As I researched for this article, I wanted to see what my new home state of Maine was doing in the realm of composting. I discovered that the longest running compost school in the United States is right here in Maine! The Maine Compost School started in 1997 to address a need that hadn’t been fulfilled yet. People wanted to compost, but didn’t have the knowledge or experience how. The school covers a wide variety of classroom knowledge, hands-on experience, field trips, and trouble shooting and more in a 5-day intensive program. They also provide resources, certification, trouble shooting, research, and any other kind of information a composter wants to learn.  

The University of Maine is also composting in a big way. They have a 40-ft in vessel composting system that diverts over 400,000 lbs of food waste per year from entering the landfill. At the same time, it provides hands-on educational opportunities for students.

Many other zoos, universities, corporations, and communities across the US are keeping their organic waste from landfills by composting. It is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to reduce organic waste. It creates jobs, connects people, and provides nutrient rich material for our gardens. 

Wooden and mesh compost "bins" with informational signs

Composting at the Cincinnati Nature Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I hope you give composting a try, if you haven’t already. It is fun, easy, and a great way to save money, reduce your carbon emissions, and do something positive for our planet. 

Get to know Fia!

Sophia “Fia” Turczynewycz recently moved to Central Maine to find her future home and the home of her aspiring business — Sunshine — an organic farm, sustainable bed & breakfast, and gathering space. After spending 18 years in Cincinnati, OH nurturing her professional career as a naturalist, AmeriCorps member, sustainable communities advocate and supervisor, assistant shop manager, catering production assistant, catering staff, graduate professor and more, she is ready to take on her next chapter as organic farmer and business owner. Fia is first generation US, with parents from Ukraine and the Philippines, and is deeply passionate and connected to both cultures. She has been committed to sustainability and zero waste practices for a long time, and finds it so rewarding. Originally from the Cleveland and Cincinnati, OH areas, Fia is happy to be making Maine her new home with her partner, Dan and their dog, Mani. She has traveled the globe, is an avid reader, loves to cook and bake, appreciates art and music, and is always ready for a good hike, a good meal, meaningful conversation, and ice creams. You can find her on Instagram @sophiaverasunshine or sign up for her newsletter, Sunshine, that shares about her adventures. Fia is so excited and grateful to join A Drop in the Ocean Shop Family as more than just a customer, helping with behind the scenes research for Make Waves Monday.  

 

 

Sources Used & Great Resources for Any Composter

Books

  • Composting for a New Generation: Latest Techniques for the Bin and Beyond, by Michelle Balz
  • No-Waste Composting: Small Space Waste Recycling Indoors and Out, by Michelle Balz
  • Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Applehof

Websites

Articles

  • How the US Economy and Environment Can Both Benefit from Composting Management, Faraz et al, 2022


Related:
The 7 Best Documentaries for Sustainable & Eco-Friendly Living
22 Sustainability Buzzwords You Need to Know
Beginner's Guide to Going Green: 10 Ways to Live More Sustainably Every Day
Eco-Friendly Lawn Care blog posts
Recycling vs. Composting: Which is more sustainable?
What's the cost of preventing vs. dealing with our waste?
Why You Shouldn't Rake Your Leaves This Fall

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