No-Waste Composting

Small-space waste recycling, indoors and out. Plus, 10 projects to repurpose household items into compost-making machines

Michelle Balz

• Publisher: Cool Springs Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780760368718
• Topic: Sciences biologiques
• Subtopic: Horticulture

In No-Waste Composting, you'll discover the hows and whys of composting and find over a dozen practical step-by-step plans for building both indoor and outdoor composting systems that require a minimal amount of space.

"I don't have enough space to compost."
"I don't know what's safe to compost and what isn't."
"I live in the city, so I don't think I can compost."
"Indoor composting systems are smelly."
"I don't have a garden, so I don't need to compost."

If any of these is your excuse for not composting, then this is the book for you! Small-space composting has never been easier, more efficient, and more eco-friendly. Composting keeps millions of tons of waste out of landfills and creates carbon-sequestering, nutrient-dense compost that can be used to help fuel plant growth (including houseplants!) and build soil health.

• Build a DIY worm-composting system for a cupboard or garage
• Craft a layered, under-the-sink composting system from terra cotta pots
• Construct a simple outdoor compost bin from repurposed wooden pallets
• Use upcycled wire fencing to build a mobile composting system on the driveway
• Learn how to compost larger sticks and branches to buildnew food and flowergardens
• Upcycle a plastic bucket to make an indoor compost fermenting system

Plus, you'll find plans to keep cat and dog waste out of the landfill by using a groundbreaking (and safe) DIY composting system. And if you don't garden, author and composting professional Michelle Balz offers plenty of other ways you can utilize the wonderful, crumbly compost you create.

Whether you're just starting your no-waste journey or you're a seasoned recycling and repurposing pro, No-Waste Composting is an invaluable tool to have at your side. This book is part of the Cool Springs Press No-Waste Gardening series, which also includes No-Waste Kitchen Gardening and No-Waste Organic Gardening.

CHAPTER
1

No-Waste Lifestyle and Benefits of Composting

NO-WASTE LIFESTYLE

When you think about how much garbage we create in our everyday lives, living a no-waste or zero-waste lifestyle may seem impossible, but hear me out. I see living with no waste as an aspirational goal: I take small steps, making changes in the products I buy and what I do with materials once their useful life with me is over. Striving toward zero waste just means you are trying to use our natural resources in the most efficient and smartest way possible, so we can conserve and preserve the planet we all love. Incorporating composting into your life gives you a huge leap toward living with no waste.

Reuse provides another leap toward no waste. In the 3R hierarchy you may have learned about in elementary school—reduce, reuse, recycle—reuse ranks higher than recycling as having a stronger environmental impact because it uses fewer resources. Composting technically falls into the “recycling” definition because we (or, rather, our microbe friends) transform one material into something new.

You can jump on the reuse bandwagon in multiple ways, and this book is full of reuse projects. Intentionally reusing everyday products and packaging appeals to the frugal, penny-pinching aspect of our personalities and to our inner environmentalists. Consider shopping for your lumber and other supplies at a building materials reuse center. These are like thrift stores for building supplies, and you can have a lot of fun just walking through the place and discovering treasures. Reuse surplus materials you have lying around your house and garage to construct the bins featured in this book. Instead of purchasing a fancy new kitchen collector, just use an old butter tub or coffee canister. Give the item a facelift by printing a list of what you can compost on a durable sticker for the outside.

This composter made from an old pickle barrel resembles something you would buy online, but it only cost a few dollars to make.

You can also get creative in the sourcing of your supplies. A friend of mine found the second hand pickle barrel we used to make the composter in chapter 3 (here) far cheaper than you would find a new one online. It even smelled like mouth watering pickles. Sometimes manufacturers and stores have leftover pallets that are perfect for making the salvaged pallet bin in chapter 3 (here). Have any friends who work in restaurants? They may have access to 5-gallon (19-L) buckets for the pet septic project in chapter 6 (here).

Take one step toward no waste and then another—before you know it, you’ll be pushing a much lighter trash can to the curb each week.

BUILDING REUSE CENTERS

Building material reuse centers offer used building supplies such as lumber and fixtures at a discounted price.

These used shutters could see a second life as a compost bin.

Whenever I try to explain to a friend what a building reuse center is, I always end up saying, “It’s like a thrift store, but for building supplies such as lumber and appliances.” You really can’t understand until you visit one and experience the wonder and glory for yourself. I am like a kid in a candy shop in these places. It also helps that I love old stuff and could spend hours just admiring the antique doorknobs, ornate fireplace mantels, and unique light fixtures.

Some stores can become a bit unorganized at times, and you may have to clean up your purchases before they reach their true splendor. The money you save and the natural resources you conserve are worth the extra effort. I encourage you to visit a few different reuse stores if they are available in your area because they often specialize in certain materials.

Compost improves the soil to make your garden thrive.

BENEFITS OF COMPOSTING

Imagine taking materials that many people view as garbage and transforming them into something useful. When you compost, you create something that will amend your soil and improve your garden. You create something that has the ability to bind heavy metals so your plants won’t absorb them. You create something that reduces your need for fertilizers and pesticides. Best of all, creating this special something requires no electricity, and you can make all the tools you need yourself.

Compost holds a special place in the hearts of serious gardeners as the most important soil amendment around. But aside from the many personal benefits you reap from composting, your decision to compost also benefits the world around you, positively affecting larger environmental issues. You win, your soil wins, and the planet wins.

FEEDING THE SOIL

Plants need sixteen essential chemical elements for growth. Compost helps your plants obtain these nutrients in two ways.

First, compost contains many of these nutrients because the material you added—leaves, food scraps, coffee grounds, and more—contained these nutrients. As the material breaks down in your compost, many of these nutrients become available for plant consumption.

Second, and arguably more important, compost improves the living area of the soil for beneficial microorganisms so they grow, reproduce, and prosper. These tiny organisms in the soil make the nutrients available to your plants and pull minerals from the surrounding soil to feed your plants.

Compost is not fertilizer. People design fertilizer to feed plants. Compost feeds the soil. This distinction may seem minor, but soil is not a barren lifeless matter—it’s a whole ecosystem t...