How to start your own compost operation at home

Preferably in a shady area, set up a compost bin, tumbler or pile. Send items you don’t want to include, like bones or moldy cheese, to professional waste treaters. No yard? No problem! Consider a small-space option or connect with a co-op.

Compost requires four main ingredients: water, oxygen, nitrogen — from “green” materials — and carbon — from “brown” materials. A compost pile should be damp, like a squeezed-out sponge, but not dripping, and the more often you turn it and give it oxygen, the faster the microbes can break the materials down to an earthy-smelling, chocolate-brown amendment for your soil. You don’t have to turn it at all, but it will take much longer for all the materials to break down.

The instructions here are for casual composters, who won’t be using meat, dairy or cooked foods. Those items can be composted in hot piles, says Fang, but those require more effort and diligence.

Guides abound online. Here are soil scientist Lynn Fang’s recommendations for starting a basic, layered compost pile:

• Start with a 3- to 6-inch layer of untreated wood chips or small broken branches at the bottom of a bin or just on the ground. This will help absorb odors and provide air circulation.
• Add a 3-inch layer of “green” material.
• Add a 1-inch layer of a high-nitrogen activator such as manure, brew waste, coffee grounds or grass clippings (mixed in well).
• Add a 3-inch layer of “brown” material.
• Water those layers well so the pile is thoroughly wet, and if you have enough ingredients, repeat the same layering process, watering again to ensure all the ingredients get wet.
• Turn the pile monthly by forking ingredients from the bottom of the pile to the top. When you add food scraps, cover them with wood chips or some other brown material to absorb odors and deter pests, but try to keep an even balance of greens and browns and make sure the pile stays moist. If the pile gets too dry, decomposition slows and it’s more likely to attract ants and other pests. Add more greens and water, and turn. If the pile starts smelling or gets too wet, add more brown carbon material and mix it well.
• Once you fill a bin, let it “cook” for a few months (turning it monthly will speed the process) and start a second bin or pile nearby so you always have a place to add your food waste.