hello!! i was wondering if could get any help with adding or removing off this guide/ informative pamphlet about composting ill be giving out to community members who might not have any prior knowledge about composting. any help or comments are greatly appreciated!!
by Serious-Sprinkles-61
6 Comments
Edit: Thanks. Here are my suggested revisions:
~Important Tips for Successful Composting~
Make sure to turn/mix your compost regularly to aerate it. The composting organisms need oxygen, and mixing it regularly keeps it from compressing and pushing the oxygen out. Also, different materials decompose at different rates, and mixing regularly helps keep it uniform. (I edited this point quite a bit since it seemed to be mixing two points together)
This can be done with the hands, pitchfork or shovel, or a compost turner.
Understand the NO’s in composting. Beginners shouldn’t add meat, dairy, fatty foods, or grease, and no one should add anything with synthetic chemicals or plastics of any kind.
(I took out “or already dead” because I didn’t know what you meant. I also changed it because some of those “NO’s” aren’t *strict* “NO’s,” but here’s a version that preserves your instructions: “Understand the NO’s in composting. You shouldn’t add meat, dairy, fatty foods, grease, synthetic chemicals, or plastics of any kind.”)
Chop up your materials for a more successful pile and to make decomposition go faster.
Place the pile in a shady area to prevent the sun from evaporating its moisture.
Layer “green/wet and brown/dry” materials. This offers more moisture, air circulation, odor control, and drainage.
~Purpose of Composting?~
The purpose of composting is to create an organic fertilizer out of organic waste materials. This reduces waste that would otherwise go into landfills, causing air pollution and health hazards to everyone on Earth.
~How Does Composting Work?~
Microorganisms eat away at food scraps and compostable materials. The result is a soil amendment rich in nutrients like nitrogen and potassium. These nutrients help build a healthy soil perfect for planting.
~Benefits of Composting ?~
Composting offers many environmental benefits such as conserving water, reducing food scraps and waste, improving soil health, and preventing soil erosion. (I removed “and storm water management” since I’m not sure what you mean by that.)
~How to start your own compost at home~
1.) Choose a convenient place for compost, like a pile, bin, or jar in your home or backyard. Be mindful of pests and insects that the compost may attract.
2.) Add “green/wet and brown/dry” materials into your compost. Green materials would be food scraps, lawn clippings, coffee grounds, and tea bags. Brown materials would be things like dryer lint, napkins, paper towels, and dry/dead leaves. You can also add eggshells, which eventually add calcium to the compost.
3.) Wait up to 2-4 weeks for nutrients to break down into your soil.
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Could you copy and paste the raw text into a comment? Or share an online document? I’d be happy to proofread it for you. I’m noticing a few errors/changes I could suggest (for example, the first sentence: “The purpose of composting ~~is to~~ is to create an organic fertilizer out of organic waste materials~~,~~. This reduces waste that ~~goes~~ *would otherwise go* into landfills ~~that can cause~~, *causing* air pollution and health hazards to everyone on Earth.”), but don’t really want to re-type everything.
Good on you for doing this!
Only thing that stands out to me is the 2-4 weeks in point (3), which is way too short a time to see any composting. You don’t want to give a new composter unrealistic expectations about the process.
It might be helpful to expand this point to include more information about what to expect the process to look like: how it should smell, what it looks like when it’s finished, how to use the compost when done, etc.
Side note about dryer lint. It is a controversial topic for composting. It should not be composted if fabric softener or dryer sheets are used (they leave a residue on the fibers), and should only be natural fibers (i.e. cotton, wool) I would omit it as an option.
light green makes it harder to read.
I’m not big on the dryer lint. Too many common fabrics are not organic.
Under “how does composting work” you have an extra word. Remove the “is” from the first sentence.
I think calling greens wet and browns dry is an overly simplistic way of thinking about the two that will result in confusion.