Composting is one of the easiest things you can do at home to make a positive impact on the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average person produces nearly 5 pounds of waste each day, much of it unnecessarily ending up in a landfill (in our case, Prima Deschecha). With composting (and recycling, too, of course) you can dramatically reduce the amount of waste you personally generate each day. And, if you’re composting with worms, your end product will be a rich, nutrient-dense soil amendment called worm castings. Yes, worm castings can be purchased at a garden center, but with composting, you can continually make your own, for free.

To get a sense of how much waste you can divert from Prima Descecha, consider that all of the following can be composted: fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, dryer lint, newspaper, cardboard, post-it notes, pet hair, human hair, paper napkins and towels, tea bags, coffee grounds, stale bread, grass clippings, corn cobs, pie crust, grocery receipts and more. Here’s what shouldn’t go into the compost bin: meat, bones, pet waste, fatty food wastes, diseased plants and weeds.

Get a handle on these three basics:

1. Air: Your bin must be aerated. This will allow your worms and microbes to survive so they can break down your garbage. Aeration also prevents unwanted odors from developing.
2. Water: The ideal moisture level of your compost bin will be that of a wrung-out sponge. A dry pile will slow the composting process significantly, while a soaking-wet pile could lead to the exclusion of air (see above).
3. Food: While a wide variety of items can go into your bin, for best results, you’ll want to keep a nice balance of “browns” and “greens.” Greens are your fresh plant materials, such as grass clippings and fruit and veggie scraps. Browns are your cardboard, receipts, dried leaves, straw, etc. The amount of food will depend on the number of worms you have. You don’t want to over- or under-feed, so follow this rule of thumb: 1 pound of worms can eat 5 to 7 pounds of waste each week.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 10-to 15-gallon Rubbermaid bin, depending on how much garbage you have
• Window screen
• Silicone adhesive
• Shredded newspaper and cardboard
• Water
• 1 pound of worms per square foot of your bin. Check your local farmers market or order online at unclejimswormfarm.com
• Fruit and veggie scraps, plus eggshells

Here’s how to build your bin:

1. Drill a series of four evenly spaced, ½-inch holes along each of the long sides of your bin about 2 inches from the top. Repeat the series about 2 inches from the bottom of your bin as well.

2. Cut circular pieces of window screen large enough to cover the holes, plus an extra ½-inch diameter. Use a pea-sized amount of silicone adhesive to affix screen bits over each hole. Note: Your bin will look cleaner if you affix the screen to the inside of the bin.

3. Add at least 2 inches of fresh bedding to the bottom of your bin. A mix of shredded newspaper and cardboard will do the trick.

4. Moisten bedding until damp, not soaked.

5. Add 1 pound of worms per square foot of bin surface area. You can keep your bin either indoors under the kitchen sink or outdoors, as long as the temperature stays between 40 and 80 degrees.

6. Add cooked or raw fruit and vegetable scraps. Chop these goodies up for faster degradation.

7. Feed your worms once a week or daily, but remember to always add a 2-to 3-inch layer of shredded newspaper bedding to the top, completely hiding any food scraps.

The best step of all is harvesting your worm castings! If you care for your bin properly, you should be able to harvest castings every three to six months, or sooner. To put the castings to use, simply mix into potting soil or use alone as fertilizer. Keep in mind that happy worms will reproduce, meaning you’ll have more mouths to feed and might need to make a bigger bin. To keep your population down, give worms away to friends so they can start their own bins!

At the end of August, one of The Ecology Center’s most popular Backyard Skills classes returns! On Saturday, August 28th from 1-3pm, Bill and Jenna will be back to teach Composting 101. In this class, students will learn the how-tos of several composting techniques and take home a fully-prepped worm bin of their own! Please register in advance as space is limited to 20 participants. Cost is $25, plus a $20 materials fee for a total of $45. Remember! Members of The Ecology Center receive a 10% discount. You can sign up here or call 949.443.4223 to register.

*Note: traditional composting bin rebates ($45) available to City of San Juan Capistrano residents who attend this class.

Last Thursday, Evan, Si Teller and I made a trip out to the Prima Deshecha Landfill to take a tour of CR&R’s recycling and composting facilities. We met up with Dean, Rachelle and Baltazar at the Materials Recovery Facility, known as MRF. MRF was designed to accept and sort 300 tons of self-haul “waste” daily. Self-haul loads are hand-sorted into metals, plastics, wood, concrete and green waste with the hope of preventing 80% of accepted materials from entering the landfill.

We had several questions for the CR&R team. Where does the wood go? It’s chipped so it can be used for mulch.

The metals? All recycled.

The greens? Sent to the green waste facility just up the road, where microbe-master, Roc, uses it to create nutrient-rich compost. Later that morning, we were lucky enough to visit the Construction & Demolition sorting machinery and see Roc’s 300 yard-long rows of compost! We also learned the Sand Canyon Landfill converts the methane gas from its site into natural gas, which CR&R uses to fuel its trucks!

With waste being such a critical global topic, it was incredible to see how it’s being handled, recycled and reused in our own backyard. Roc told us, CR&R doesn’t like the word “waste”. Like The Ecology Center, he considers it “food”. We are so grateful to Roc, Dean, Baltazar and Rachelle for taking the time to show us around the facility and giving us a glimpse into how trash can turn into treasure. As you can see from the photo above, Evan and Si found a few treasures of their own at MRF.