International Compost Awareness Week

Every week of the year seems to be designated to a particular cause or theme. Take this week for example, it is International Compost Awareness Week, celebrated each year the first full week of May. There’s even a poster contest, with the winner receiving $500. Sorry, this year’s winner has already been chosen, but there’s always next year’s ICAW. If you haven’t already started a compost bin, perhaps this is the year to start. Compost bins are easy enough to build on your own, or if you aren’t the do it yourself type, there’s a wide variety of commercially made compost bins on the market. Composting isn’t hard, you just have to remember to turn it and feed it a regular diet of compostable material, such as garden and grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, leaves, and even hair and animal fur. You probably noticed this long list did not include meat, fish, bones, dairy products, or pet poo, all major no no’s for a healthy compost pile! Compost experts suggest feeding your compost bin with a 50/50 weight combo, balancing fifty percent green compost material with fifty percent browns by weight.