A Simple Guide to Composting at Home

Most people think composting means a big backyard, a pitchfork, and free weekends. It doesn't. Here's the version that fits between work, a yoga class, and life.

Why bother (the short version)

About a third of what we throw out is food. Send it to a landfill, and it breaks down without oxygen, releasing methane — a greenhouse gas roughly 80 times more potent than CO₂ over a 20-year period (IPCC, 2021). Compost it at home, and that same food becomes soil. The math isn't subtle.

What composting actually is

Composting is just organic matter decomposing in the presence of oxygen, with help from the bacteria and fungi that already live around us. You're not engineering anything. You're just giving the process a corner to happen in.

The end product is a dark, crumbly material that smells like forest floor. Gardeners call it "black gold" because it feeds soil, holds water, and cuts down on the need for chemical fertilizer.

The two ingredients you need

Every compost pile is a mix of two things:

• Browns (carbon): dry leaves, cardboard, newspaper, paper towels, twigs
• Greens (nitrogen): fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, tea bags

The simple rule: about 3 parts browns to 1 part greens by volume. That's it. You don't need a thermometer. You don't need to measure pH.

A setup that works in any space

You have three realistic options, depending on where you live.

If you have a yard or patio: Buy or build a basic bin. A simple wire-mesh cylinder, a wooden three-pallet enclosure, or a tumbling composter (the kind you rotate) all work. Place it somewhere with good drainage and easy access from the kitchen.

If you have a balcony: A small bin (about 5 gallons) with a lid is enough for one or two people. Drill a few air holes in the sides. You're set.

If you have neither: Nearly 15 million U.S. households — about 10 million via curbside pickup and another 5 million through drop-off sites — now have access to food-scrap collection (BioCycle, 2023). That's almost triple the figure from 2017. Cities on the West Coast and Northeast lead the way; California alone covers nearly 5 million households. Search "[your city] food waste pickup" and you'll likely find a free program.

The five steps, in order

1. Get a kitchen caddy. A small countertop bin with a lid. Keep a week's worth of scraps if your city doesn't pick up daily.

2. Pick your compost spot. Ground-level if possible (worms will find you). Drainage matters more than sunlight.

3. Layer it. Start with a few inches of coarse browns — twigs, shredded cardboard — for airflow. Add a layer of greens. Top with a thick layer of browns. Repeat. Always finish with browns on top to keep odors and pests away.

4. Maintain weekly. Two minutes. Stir the top with a hand fork. If it looks dry, mist with water. If it smells bad, add more browns. (Smell = too wet or too little air. Browns fix it.)

5. Wait. With weekly stirring, you'll have usable compost in 3 to 5 months. Without stirring, 6 to 12 months. Either way, the planet doesn't mind waiting.

What to compost (and what to leave out)

Yes

• Fruit and veggie scraps
• Coffee grounds and filters
• Tea bags (no staples)
• Eggshells (crushed)
• Dry leaves, grass clippings
• Shredded cardboard and newspaper
• Hair, lint, plain pasta (small amounts)

No

• Meat, fish, bones (attract pests)
• Dairy and oils (slow to break down, smell bad)
• Pet waste (pathogens)
• Glossy paper, plastic-coated cardboard
• "Compostable" plastic bags — they need industrial heat, not your backyard. "Home compostable" is the only label that works at home.

Common beginner mistakes

• Too many greens, not enough browns. This is the cause of 90% of bad-smelling compost. Add more dry leaves or shredded cardboard.
• Not enough air. If your pile is soggy and slimy, it needs stirring. Add browns at the same time.
• Chunks too big. Cut or break up avocado pits, corn cobs, and broccoli stems so they actually decompose.
• Giving up too soon. Compost looks like trash for the first month. That's normal.

The one thing no one tells you

After about three months, you'll start throwing things away differently. You'll pause before peeling a carrot. You'll notice how much packaging you actually use. Composting doesn't change the planet on its own — but it quietly changes how you see the small stuff.

And once you start, you can't quite un-see it.

*At RIJ, we think a lot about what happens to a product after you receive it. The bag your order arrives in is certified for home composting — OK Compost HOME and AS 5810 — meaning you can tear it up, drop it in your bin, and let it do its thing alongside your apple cores. That's the kind of detail most people never notice. But we think it matters.

— The RIJ team

Sources

• IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021 — The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report. Cambridge University Press.
• Goldstein, N., Luu, P., & Motta, S. (2023). Residential Food Waste Collection Access in the U.S. BioCycle Nationwide Survey.
• U.S. EPA, Reducing the Impact of Wasted Food by Feeding the Soil and Composting. epa.gov.