---
title: Got Compost?
date: 2010-04-26T20:30:07Z
modified: 2010-04-26T20:30:07Z
permalink: "https://elizabethyarnell.com/do-you-compost/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 1451
categories:
  - Gardening
  - Living Naturally
  - Recommended Products
tags:
  - "5280"
  - compost
  - composting
  - garbage
author: Elizabeth
---

One of my friends recently started a backyard compost heap and raved to me about how much they’ve decreased their load at the curb on garbage day.

Welcome to the wonderful world of composting, I told her. Where you don’t have to feel guilty when a vegetable rots in your fridge before you have a chance to use it because you know it will get a second life creating rich new soil in your compost bin.

According to [Denver’s 5280 magazine](http://www.5280.com/issues/2010/1004/feature.php?pageID=2169 "5280 composting denver"): _Fifty-seven percent of Denverites’ garbage is organic material, which breaks down anaerobically (without air) inside plastic garbage bags at the landfill, creating methane, a greenhouse gas that can remain in the atmosphere for decades and exacerbate climate change._

[![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41X6xo5VYNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg "rotating compost bin")

](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41X6xo5VYNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)Rotating compost bin[![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Ow8bQHdvL._AA300_.jpg "ceramic compost crock")

](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0025ZDSQQ?tag=lizoneandmore-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B0025ZDSQQ&adid=1SNVC3J0JJ16RVF0B954&)Countertop compost crockComposting is as easy as keeping a lidded bin next to your sink. Instead of scraping non-meat table scraps down the in-sink disposal (and adding to the layer of sludge in the public sewer systems), divert anything that is non-animal product into the bin. When the bin is full, dump it into your main compost bin.

[![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VCwycFyEL._SL500_AA300_.jpg "All Seasons Indoor Composter")

](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UPKZSC?tag=lizoneandmore-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000UPKZSC&adid=13W0F12HE4VZ5J10FR4X&)Indoor composterYou can get anything from an indoor composter to a suspended spinning barrel to something more like a corral. My husband built our first compost bin out of two-by-fours and metal fastenings from the hardware store that allowed the cross-boards to be louvered for air flow.

[![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FJVPjmwtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg "Geobin Composting System")

](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00140UWDK?tag=lizoneandmore-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B00140UWDK&adid=0TASS55YZV7SJH8QT6XH&)Round composting binThe one we have now in our tiny, postage-stamp sized back yard is round.

There is a formula for composting as you add dried leaves, etc. to complete the mix. Here’s [more info on composting](http://www.howtocompost.org/ "how to compost").

The best part comes when you mix your homemade compost with soil and watch your plants thrive, although the satisfaction of greeting trash day with a single bag of non-organic refuse for the week comes close. 🙂