Michelle Balz - No-Waste Composting: Small-Space Waste Recycling, Indoors and Out. Plus, 10 Projects to Repurpose Household Items Into Compost-Making Machines

Small-Space Waste Recycling, Indoors and Out

Michelle Balz

Once you start successfully home composting it becomes so much more than just another habit. It becomes an obsession. You are not simply someone who composts. You become a composter. Something about transforming old banana peels, dead leaves, and coffee groundsstuff many people consider garbageinto the most beautiful, rich, crumbly soil amendment transforms you as well. You become more self-sufficient, more capable, and more connected to the world under your feet.

This book contains more than a dozen simple DIY projects to create your own backyard or in-home composting system using reused and repurposed materials. Many of the projects use items you or your friends already have on hand. That means you can start home composting without shelling out any, or at least very little, money.

Already have a compost bin? Great! This book also provides you with all of the knowledge you need to become a composter. So often people start composting only to stop because they dont know the few basic rules to follow. lays out how to balance browns and greens, what you can and cannot compost, and how to maintain your compost pile with very little work.

Of course, knowing the rules and knowing when to break them makes life more interesting, so Ive included a few innovative composting methods for those of you who want to compost indoors, on your patio, or in your garden without a bin at all. You will also learn special techniques for composting materials traditionally left out of home composting, such as meat and dog poop. Yes, I have a whole chapter for composting Fidos manure. Youre welcome.

Whether you already compost and want to step up your composting game or you are just starting your composting journey, this book will help you become a successful backyard composter. Transform your garbage into gardeners gold. Build your own composting system using repurposed materials. Become more self-sufficient and resourceful.

Well, composter, are you obsessed yet?

Transform old banana peels, apple cores, and dead leaves into a valuable soil amendment for your garden.

This book includes many simple DIY projects to create your own in-home or backyard composting system, including the Repurposed Trash Can Tumbler in .

NO-WASTE LIFESTYLE

When you think about how much garbage we create in our everyday lives, living a no-waste or zero-waste lifestyle may seem impossible, but hear me out. I see living with no waste as an aspirational goal: I take small steps, making changes in the products I buy and what I do with materials once their useful life with me is over. Striving toward zero waste just means you are trying to use our natural resources in the most efficient and smartest way possible, so we can conserve and preserve the planet we all love. Incorporating composting into your life gives you a huge leap toward living with no waste.

Reuse provides another leap toward no waste. In the 3R hierarchy you may have learned about in elementary schoolreduce, reuse, recyclereuse ranks higher than recycling as having a stronger environmental impact because it uses fewer resources. Composting technically falls into the recycling definition because we (or, rather, our microbe friends) transform one material into something new.

You can jump on the reuse bandwagon in multiple ways, and this book is full of reuse projects. Intentionally reusing everyday products and packaging appeals to the frugal, penny-pinching aspect of our personalities and to our inner environmentalists. Consider shopping for your lumber and other supplies at a building materials reuse center. These are like thrift stores for building supplies, and you can have a lot of fun just walking through the place and discovering treasures. Reuse surplus materials you have lying around your house and garage to construct the bins featured in this book. Instead of purchasing a fancy new kitchen collector, just use an old butter tub or coffee canister. Give the item a facelift by printing a list of what you can compost on a durable sticker for the outside.