Collecting Compostable Carbon Inside Your Home
Carbon is a critical component to any composting system. The most obvious source of carbon you can collect is fallen leaves in autumn and winter, but these aren't the only option. Our homes are also filled with carbon materials. Collecting compostable carbon inside your home is easy and will help your composting systems significantly.
What is carbon?
First of all, let's explain what carbon is and just as importantly, it's friend, nitrogen. Carbon in terms of gardening and composting is dead organic material and it is one of the two major inputs when creating compost, the other is nitrogen. Another common name used for distinguishing them is browns and greens. Browns, or carbon, is generally the stuff that is dry, void of water and life, think dried out, crunchy brown leaves, sticks and twigs. Nitrogen or greens are the lively things still containing moisture, think freshly mowed grass clippings, vegetable scraps and even used coffee grounds.
Why you need carbon
As briefly mentioned above, all composting techniques require a mixture of carbon/browns and nitrogen/greens, usually to a ratio of about 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen. This ratio is a guide only and does not need to be exact. A compost bin or worm farm with only greens or without enough browns can turn anaerobic, giving off a rancid smell. The carbon prevents this from happening because it provides oxygen and energy to the millions of microorganisms that help break the pile down.
Carbon sources you can find inside
The most common sources found inside the home are:
- Toilet paper rolls
- Pizza boxes
- Paper
- Natural fibre string and rope
- Newspaper
- Indoor plant material (including spent potting mixes, leaves, flowers, stems etc)
- Wilted ornamental flowers
- Cardboard boxes
- Brown paper bags
- Ice cream sticks
- Wooden chopsticks
- Cardboard bread tags
- Wooden toothbrush handles
There are hundreds of things found in the home that can easily be composted. The key thing to remember is anything natural or that was once alive. Wood, plant material, paper and cardboard etc.
How long will it take for the carbon to decompose?
That really depends on what the material is and the size of it. Small dead leaves will take a much shorter time to decompose than a large cardboard box or wooden chopsticks. The good news is you can quicken the process by making the pieces as small as possible. Below are some examples:
- Shred or cut your paper and newspapers into small thin pieces.
- Tear your toilet paper rolls up to about the size of a 20c piece
- Snap your wooden chopsticks and toothbrushes into 2cm bits
- Cut any natural fibre string up into small pieces 2cm long
- Crush or tear large dead leaves, stems and flowers
- Lastly, tear all cardboard into small pieces, about the size of your thumb
Why not just use leaves from outside?
You absolutely could use just leaves and other dead plant material you find outside. The only problem is there isn't always enough of just this available without having to outsource stuff like sawdust, straw or woodchips. These other items may cost you money or time collecting them, they may also come wrapped in plastic, which we all know the devastating impacts plastic has on the environment. Or you may not even have an outdoor area, you may only have a small balcony, so rounding up a pile of leaves doesn't come as easy.Another really significant reason to use these household items is because we want as much diversity in our compost bins as possible. Just like in every other aspect of life and gardening, diversity is important for making a healthy and nutrient rich compost.These ordinary items can be used in conjunction with all other browns and aid us in composting all year round. It's also worth repeating the ratio of carbon to nitrogen should be approximately 30 parts C to one part N. More carbon is necessary so adding all the carbon sources we can get our hands on the better the final result.Many carbon items are found in our houses anyway so we might as well compost them, instead of trashing or recycling them. Collecting compostable carbon inside your home can be fun and rewarding. I hope you look at all the brown materials found indoors differently from now on.If you want to learn more about composting read these other articles: