Before You Buy Compost, Look at What’s Going in Your Trash

Vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, dry leaves and appropriate cardboard can all become ingredients for homemade compost. Balance nitrogen-rich greens with plenty of carbon-rich browns for better results. Viktor Sergeevich/Shutterstock

A bag of compost at the garden center looks like a gardening product, while the coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, cardboard, and fallen leaves leaving your house look like trash. Put those materials together correctly, however, and you have many of the ingredients needed to make homemade compost without repeatedly buying bags of soil amendment. The USDA estimates that food scraps and yard waste account for roughly 20% to 30% of what Americans throw away, much of which has potential value outside the trash can. Better yet, composting doesn’t require an expensive tumbler, starter additive, or elaborate backyard setup to work. Before paying for your next bag of compost, take a closer look at what your household already throws away every week.

Fruit and Vegetable Scraps Are Valuable “Greens”