Twenty Odd Things to Put in Your Compost Pile - Reduce Your Household Waste by Composting It

Some people compost in order to create the "perfect" nourishing soil that their plants need. I compost somewhat for that reason, and also because I am able to reduce the amount of waste that I produce by turning much of it into dirt. Here is a list that I have compiled of 20 compost-able things that you probably never thought of.

1. Sewing scraps. When I spend a few hours at my sewing machine I am always left with a pile of thread ends and small snips of fabric. Any natural fiber will compost beautifully so stick with cotton, linen, and wool. Acrylic thread will work into the compost, but man-made fabrics probably won't.

2. Tea Bags. Throw them in after you finish your cup. You don't even have to take the tea out of the bag!

3. Beer. Whenever we have a party I pour all of the left-over half-drank beers into a jug and pour it on the compost pile. I don't know the specifics of it, but the beer seems to make the compost work faster.

4. Junk Mail. Put it through the shredder or cut it into little pieces to make it compost quicker.

5. Wool and Yarn. I'm a spinner, so I always have wool scraps. You can also compost commercial wool yarn that is too little to knit with. I like to cut it up so it doesn't get tangled.

6. Soup. Did you ever make a huge pot of soup and forget to freeze the leftovers? Any meatless soup will compost fantastically.

7. Melted Ice cream. Did you leave it out on the counter overnight? Throw it in the bin!

8. Paper plates. If you have to use them, at least compost them.

9. Stale Crackers.

10. Stale Cookies.

11. Stale Bread. Really any starchy thing that you don't want to eat anymore. Rice cakes, waffles, pancakes, burnt toast... you get the idea.

12.Hair. The stuff you pull out of your hairbrush, or out of your pets' hairbrushes.

13 Dryer lint. Pocket lint. Bellybutton lint.

14. Newspaper. I put some in every Sunday. I put it through the paper shredder first.

15. Egg Shells. Crunch them up and toss!

16. Vacuum Cleaner Dirt. Empty the bag right into your compost.

17. Dried Herbs. They go bad after a year or so. Toss them into the compost before you buy/grow more.

18. Cake. If you want to throw it away...

19. Used Tissues.

20. Cotton Balls, Cotton Swabs, Gauze.

As always, avoid the following while deciding what can and cannot go into your compost pile: Meat, Oils, Large pieces of anything, Plastics, and large amounts of Dairy. Have fun walking around your house, picking up garbage and reducing it to dirt!