Here’s How You Can Compost In Your Apartment

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You don’t have to live on a farm to compost. As society becomes more focused on being environmentally friendly and sustainable, composting has become more mainstream. Composting is nature’s way of recycling decomposed organic materials into rich soil, known as compost. All of your food waste, basically anything that was once living, will eventually decompose and turn into crumbly, dark-brown soil that smells something like the forest floor.

There are three types of composting; backyard composting, worm composting and grasscycling. Worm composting, or vermicomposting, is the best option if you live in an apartment or small living space with no access to a backyard.

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Worm composting is an easy and efficient way to recycle food waste into high-quality compost. You’ll have to be ok with bugs and you can’t be afraid to get your hands a little dirty. For easy composting indoors you’ll need a container with two lids, food scraps, paper, water and red wiggler worms. You create holes along the bottom and top of your container for ventilation and drainage.

Here’s a full explanation by EcoWatch on how to create your own compost bin that won’t smell up your apartment or give you a pest issue. Keep on adding food scraps until you notice there are more scraps than soil and then let the mixture fully compost. Things to avoid when you’re composting are meat, bones, dairy, chemicals, plastic and citrus.

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This kind of composting reduces household garbage that would otherwise go to a landfill. With the help of a bunch of red wiggler worms, you’ll have rich organic material to add to your soil in about 12 weeks, but smaller bins will work faster. Compost can help houseplants to grow and improve vegetable or herb gardens. You can package up your compost and give it as a gift to any of your friends with a green thumb or desire to grow any plants in their homes. There are a lot of things you can do with your compost and you don’t need a whole backyard to do it.

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If you’ve ever felt guilty about throwing away food scraps, composting is the perfect way to make up for it. The whole process provides environmental benefits and it’s an economical source of organic matter for your gardens. It’s a no brainer if you’re looking to give indoor gardening a try.