1. Why compost? Composting saves money
For your home: use less “Pay As You Throw” town trash bags by keeping food out of your bag; use less leaf bags for yard waste

2. Why compost? Composting saves money
For your town: less trash pickup = lower trucking/hauling, trash disposal costs (save money for roads, sidewalks, parks, snow removal)

3. Why compost? Composting saves money
For your yard and garden: buy less synthetic chemical fertilizers, soil; water less often

4. Why compost? Composting saves money
For your apartment building: less costly trash, overflowing stinky dumpster, noisy pickups

5. Composting keeps food waste out of landfills
Composting saves space in landfills
Photo of Northampton landfill, June 2008

6. Composting helps slow Climate Change
Climate Change (or Global Warming) is caused by greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
Greenhouse Gases:
Carbon Dioxide
Methane
Nitrous Oxide

7. The Climate Change Connection
When food waste (and paper) biodegrade in a landfill, methane is released.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Over a 20-year period, methane can be 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide!!
The Climate Change Connection
Methane pipe at a landfill

8. Compost bins made from reused pallets
Why doesn’t composting release methane? Because oxygen is part of the composting process. There is no oxygen in a landfill.
Compost bins made from reused pallets

9. Compost is great for plants: adds nutrients to soil.
used on farms for growing vegetables
in home gardens for growing flowers, vegetables
in landscaping
Farmland
Finished compost

10. How does it work? Compost uses nature’s recycling program:
Plants, trees and leaves decompose.
They become soil, or compost.
The compost feeds the plants.

11. How does it work? A compost bin needs:
Water: material in bin should be as damp as a wrung out sponge. Add water if not, and when building pile. Add sparingly in winter.
Air/ Oxygen: mix/stir occasionally
“Green” materials: (nitrogen) food waste
“Brown” materials: (carbon) leaves, hay, shredded and soaked newspaper, egg cartons
Microorganisms: eat material and heat it up

12. The Yes and No of home composting:
YES; Green/Nitrogen-rich:
Veggies, fruit, & peels
Bread, rice, pasta, grains
Coffee grounds, paper coffee filters, tea bags
Eggshells
Grass clippings, yard waste
NO; will smell and attract animals:
Meat, fish, bones
Cheese, dairy
Fat, grease, oils, peanut butter
Cooked foods with lots of sauces/ butter
Also:
Diseased or insect-ridden plants
Weeds which spread by roots and runners
Weeds with seeds
YES; Brown/Carbon-rich:
Fall leaves
Straw, hay
Shredded newspaper or paper
Chinet paper plates (rip up)
Egg cartons (rip up)
Wood chips
Old potting soil (dead houseplants)

13. Setting up your bin Put bin in an easily accessible place (winter)
Place bin in sunny spot away from neighbors
(won’t smell if you use plenty of leaves and bury waste; no animal products)
Gather for set up:
Food Waste
Lots and lots of fall leaves/ brown materials
Finished compost or garden soil (2-3 shovel-fulls)
Shovel or pitchfork
Hose or bucket(s) of water
(no water in winter)