Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter, transforming household and yard waste into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. While many people limit their compost piles to basic food scraps or fallen leaves, the range of compostable items found around the house is far wider. Expanding your inputs beyond the usual suspects helps divert waste from landfills, enriching your soil. This practice turns everyday discarded materials into valuable organic matter, enhancing your garden’s health. By understanding which surprising items can be safely added, you can maintain a more balanced and effective composting system.
Unexpected Carbon Sources (The Weird Browns)
Several common household wastes are excellent sources of carbon, known as “browns,” which help balance the moisture and nitrogen from food scraps. Human hair and pet fur are composed primarily of the protein keratin, making them a slow-release source of nitrogen, though they are often treated as a carbon material due to their dry, fibrous nature. It is important to ensure hair is natural and not chemically treated with strong dyes or perms before adding it to the pile.
Dryer lint can also be composted, but only if it comes from natural fibers like cotton, linen, or wool. Lint from synthetic fabrics such as polyester or nylon will not break down and can introduce microplastics into your finished compost. Because lint is so fine, it should be distributed thinly and mixed well to prevent it from forming dense, air-blocking mats.
Contents collected by your vacuum cleaner are mostly made up of organic matter like hair, skin flakes, and natural fibers, which are all compostable. However, the inclusion of synthetic carpet fibers, plastic debris, or chemical residues requires caution. If your home has primarily natural-fiber carpets and minimal chemical use, the dust can be added in thin layers to avoid compaction and ensure aeration.
Used paper towels and napkins, provided they are not saturated with grease, oil, or harsh cleaning chemicals, also serve as good carbon inputs. These items are easily shredded by microorganisms and help absorb excess moisture in a wet compost pile. Always ensure the paper is white or minimally dyed to avoid introducing unwanted inks or bleaches.
Non-Traditional Kitchen and Pantry Waste
The kitchen often holds items that are not traditional food scraps but are fully organic and safe for composting. Old, expired spices and dried herbs, which lose their potency for cooking, can be added to the compost heap. The volatile oils in some spices, like cinnamon or chili pepper, can even act as natural pest deterrents when sprinkled near the top of the pile.
Natural wine corks, sourced from the bark of the cork oak tree, are a valuable carbon-rich material. Before composting, confirm they are not synthetic foam or plastic, and remove any foil or metal elements. Shredding or chopping natural corks significantly increases their surface area, accelerating decomposition that would otherwise be extremely slow.
Used wooden matchsticks are another small, overlooked carbon source suitable for the compost, provided they are fully extinguished. While the wood itself is organic, some match heads contain chemicals, so only compost the burnt wooden or paper stick portion in small quantities. Tea bags are generally compostable, but remove any staples and verify the bag material is a natural fiber, as many sealed bags contain non-compostable plastic components.
Household Materials and Natural Fibers
Larger, non-food household items made from pure natural fibers can be composted once they reach the end of their usable life. Clothing made from 100% natural materials like cotton, linen, or wool can be composted, acting as another source of browns. This requires the removal of all non-compostable parts, including zippers, buttons, synthetic threads, and any tags.
The fabric must be cut into small, manageable pieces to allow microbes access to the cellulose and protein fibers. Similarly, natural loofahs and sponges, which are the dried, fibrous skeleton of the Luffa plant, are completely compostable once they are worn out. Synthetic, plastic bath poufs should never be added to the compost pile.
Items made from natural rubber, or latex, derived from the sap of the Hevea Brasiliensis tree, are also biodegradable. This includes items like natural rubber gloves or certain foam products, provided they are 100% pure, organic latex without synthetic additives or fillers. Synthetic latex, which is petroleum-based, will not break down.
Preparing Unusual Items for Decomposition
Integrating these unique materials requires specific preparation steps to ensure they break down efficiently within the compost environment. The fundamental principle is to increase the total surface area available for microbial action. Dense materials, such as natural corks, fabrics, or rubber pieces, should be shredded, chopped, or cut into pieces no larger than a postage stamp.
Fibrous materials like hair, lint, and vacuum dust have a tendency to mat together, which drastically slows decomposition by limiting oxygen flow and creating anaerobic pockets. To counteract this, intersperse these materials thinly with other ingredients and mix them thoroughly into the pile. Soaking very dry, fibrous items, such as dense paper or cardboard, before adding them helps kickstart the process by introducing moisture needed by the decomposer organisms.
Since many of these items, including hair and cork, are rich in carbon, adding large quantities without balancing them with nitrogen-rich “greens” can disrupt the carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio. A proper ratio encourages rapid and complete decomposition, so brown materials should be layered with kitchen scraps or fresh grass clippings. Burying unusual items deep within the active center of the compost pile helps maintain the high temperatures needed for breakdown and prevents attracting pests, which is especially important for items like old spices.