Natural Perspectives -- Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray

Vic has been pestering me to get one for a long time, so I finally got

him one for his birthday this year.

An SUV? A trip to Europe? A big power tool? No, those barely make it

onto his radar screen.

Vic is a pretty simple guy. He merely wanted a home composter. He

dreamed of turning our kitchen scraps and green yard waste into rich,

brown humus because it’s great for growing vegetables and flowers.

Composting also reduces curbside waste and lessens the impact on

overburdened landfills.

Over the years, we’ve considered various methods of composting, but

none seemed really suited to our lifestyle. Some composters have rotating

drums, but they looked bulky and awkward to use. Composting in an open

circular container of hardware cloth is inconvenient because it dries out

too rapidly and often doesn’t get warm enough for proper decomposition to

take place. Big open piles of compost are OK in a huge yard, but we don’t

have room for that style of composting.

In the past, we’ve spaded some of our kitchen waste directly into our

vegetable garden, usually in the winter when the garden is dormant. Over

the years, our soil has become soft and crumbly, a far cry from the hard

clay we started with. While this was better than not composting at all,

we really couldn’t dispose of much of our green waste in this fashion.

Bags of autumn leaves have always gone straight into the trash, as have

hedge clippings, dead plants, and most of our kitchen waste. Although

Rainbow Disposal is able to recycle some of this green waste, much still

goes to the landfill.

Despite Vic’s plea for a more environmentally conscious solution to

our kitchen and yard waste problem, we remained without a composting

system. But when I saw an assemble-it-yourself composting bin at a local

garden center recently, I knew that was the solution for Vic’s birthday

present.

This rectangular composter is perfect for our small Southern

California yard. It’s 22 inches, square at the base and stands a little

over three feet tall. The removable top has two hinged lids that make it

easy to add material. The heavy-duty, open-bottomed container is made of

100% recycled black plastic. It holds in heat and moisture, yet it has

vents on all sides to provide essential aeration. A sliding door on the

front lets us scoop out finished compost from the bottom while continuing

to add more raw materials through the top.

Vic assembled the pieces of the composter in short order. We followed

the instructions that came with it, adding layers of dried leaves between

the green waste layers. We shoveled in an occasional layer of dirt to

provide the soil organisms necessary for proper breakdown of the organic

waste. Then we watered it all to get it started. Compost is a living

culture that needs moisture, warmth, air, and nutrients for proper

breakdown of the plant material.

Day by day, we add our kitchen waste. I was surprised to learn that

the two of us generate nearly a half-gallon of fruit and vegetable

peelings, coffee grounds, eggshells, and other kitchen scraps every day.

When I add the kitchen waste to the composter, I put it under a layer of

grass or leaves to discourage flies. We don’t compost meats, bones, or

grease because they attract pests.

We use a three-tined garden fork to lift the layers every so often to

increase aeration. We add enough water to make sure the pile stays damp

but not soggy. The system must be working, because the compost smells

good and earthy, and is pest-free.

I thought for sure the bin would fill within a couple of weeks at the

rate we produce green waste, but decomposition reduces its bulk. The pile

shrinks as though by magic. It stays at about the same level even though

we add to it daily. Vic lifted the front door the other day and found

that the bottom layer was almost ready to use. To speed the composting

process, he turned the entire contents of the bin over, mixing the moist

bottom layer that was rich in microorganisms into the drier top layers.

Our first compost should be ready to use soon.

In the few weeks that we’ve had our composter, we’ve kept many gallons

of kitchen waste out of the sewer system and several bags of green yard

waste out of the landfills. This contribution isn’t much, but if everyone

had a compost bin, trash haulers and their big diesel trucks could make

fewer trips to the landfill. That would help reduce air pollution as well

as save space in the landfill. By making our own compost instead of

buying it, we’re also reducing the amount of commercial compost that will

need to be hauled into town. If more people composted their yard and

kitchen waste, it might make a significant difference.

Vic really likes his present. As a biologist, he’s actually enjoying

watching our green waste decompose into brown gold for the garden. Don’t

make too much fun of him.

* VIC LEIPZIG PhD and LOU MURRAY PhD are Huntington Beach residents

and environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 [email protected] .