10 Unusual Items For Compost Piles

"Nut shells can be used in compost."

Composting is an environmentally friendly way of diverting waste from the landfill and turning it into nutrient rich humus for your garden. Composting can be extremely simple to a bit more complex, but either way it doesn’t require a lot of effort since microscopic organisms do all the work for you.

While it is simple to compost, knowing what is beneficial to compost is the key to your success.

Items for Compost:

Items that are compostable are divided into two groups: the greens and the browns. Greens are high nitrogen items such as plant detritus, food waste, and coffee grounds. Browns are high carbon items like newspaper, sawdust and bark. While most items that can be tossed into the compost pile are self-explanatory, there are a few surprising things that you can compost.

Take a look at the top 10 most surprising items for compost piles.

Dryer lint – Lint from the dryer can be composted if it is of organic origin, as can those pesky dust bunnies.

Hair – On the subject of hair, yes, it can be composted too, both yours and Fido’s, but apparently so can finger and toe nail clippings.

Alcohol – Did you know that wine or beer that has gone bad can be added to the compost pile?

Tea bags/filters – You probably already thought of this, but tea bags, without that little staple that some brands have, can be tossed into the compost heap. Along the same lines, unbleached coffee filters are ok to compost too.

Glue – Apparently Elmer’s glue is compostable, so if you have a lot of that laying around, why not? It’s non-toxic.

Soap – Ivory soap, so pure it floats, or something like that, can be composted.

Vacuum bags – Vacuum cleaner bags can go in the compost bin if they are paper. Also, it would depend on the contents, but most things you vacuum up are probably compostable.

Old socks – Wool socks with holes in them can be recycled by tossing in compost.

Nut shells - Another surprising ingredient you can use in compost is nut shells. Just make sure you crush them first so they’re easier to break down.

Gelatin – Lastly, did you know that Jell-O brand gelatin was compostable?