I’ll be honest, I love to talk about compost. But while I could sit on this soapbox all day, I’m going to try and keep this brief and to the point so you can get the maximum knowledge in the least amount of time. 

But before I dive into composting I want to make one note: 

Composting food scraps shouldn’t be your first resort for dealing with food waste. The first step is prevention, and that means taking these steps before you compost when possible: 

1. 1. Learn to properly store the food you buy.
      
   2. Donate excess food to others in need.
      
   3. Offer food scraps to animals.
      
   4. Turn it into biofuel or donate to a biofuel project (this one is more difficult for the average person).
   5. THEN compost what’s left.
   6. Landfill as a last resort.

(Source: EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy)

Why Composting is More Sustainable than the Landfill

I know, it’s sort of counterintuitive — I mean, the landfill is just putting things underground and letting them decompose, right? … Unfortunately not, my friend. 

I won’t get too into the nitty gritty but basically, when food undergoes natural decomposition it is exposed to plenty of air, specifically oxygen. This aerobic process produces very little greenhouse gasses. 

When food waste goes into the landfill, it gets completely covered by other unnatural materials and eventually the conditions lead to anaerobic (meaning without oxygen) conditions. When the food decomposes anaerobically, it produces a ton of methane, one of the most destructive greenhouse gasses. 

Composting our food waste is one collective action we can (and should!) take to curb climate change. 

Sidenote: I present to you my favorite TikTok on food waste:
**spicy language warning**

The Benefits of Composting

Composting doesn’t just reduce methane emissions. As a zero waste principle, it “closes the loop” on leftover organic waste and creates a valuable resource: fertile dirt. Using compost for agriculture improves the soil, provides nutrients, increases water retention, and can actually eliminate the need for industrial fertilizers that are often laden with chemicals. 

After fertilizing with compost, farmers produce higher yields of crop, reduce their operating costs, and significantly lower their carbon footprint. 

Okay I’m done bragging on composting, let’s get to the good stuff. 

How to Start Composting

Similar to starting a garden, the key here is planning. Consider how many food scraps your household typically produces in a week and what sort of resources you have on hand. There are several different ways to go about composting, depending on your circumstances, resources, and lifestyle. 

Composting in your backyard

This is what most people think of when I talk about composting — but if you don’t have a backyard, or simply don’t want a heap of compost in your yard, don’t despair! Scroll on down for less intensive solutions.

When setting up a backyard compost, consider the following factors: 

• • Light: This comes down to getting your compost at the right level of moisture and temperature. If you live in the north, you may want to put your compost in full sun to get more warmth and speed up decomposition. If you live in the south, you might consider the shade so it doesn’t dry out too much. 
  • Location: You want your compost to be close enough that it’s not too much of a task to make the trek from the kitchen. But also not too close to outdoor areas where you spend a lot of time in case it smells. It can also be helpful to have a source of water nearby in case your compost gets too dry. And keep in mind if you put it up against a wall it is likely to cause discoloration and potentially mold growth. 
  • Access: Also keep in mind it might attract critters from your nearby woods. Consider if you have dogs that might poke around in there. You can build or buy composts that keep animals out but it’s more complicated, so just be sure to take that into consideration. (If you’re keeping animals out, look into making a Compost Tumbler, which can be made cheaply with thrifted or second hand materials). 
  • Cost: You can build a compost yourself out of wood, but also less traditional materials like an old trash can, busted tote, wine barrel… or you can just start a pile without any structure whatsoever! It’s totally up to you and your preferences. 

23 Ingenious DIY Compost Bin Ideas

Composting in an apartment or condo

If you don’t have a backyard, there are still options! You can create a compost in a 5-gallon bucket. It’s recommended to use vermiculture (worms!) if you want to maintain a smaller closed compost like this. Loop Closing is a great resource to get started on this. 

The benefits of worm castings (compost made from worms) is even better than the benefits from “regular” compost, so if you can incorporate worms – DO IT!

You can also buy countertop compost devices now, though I will warn you they are expensive and I have never tried them.

Composting in your community

If you generally don’t have the time or energy to create your own compost, look into your local options! Community gardens often have a compost, and many cities now have compost facilities that offer free drop off or scheduled pick-ups for a very reasonable price. (If you’re in Gainesville, check out Beaten Path Compost — it’s $15/month for weekly curbside pick-up!)

Whether it’s a community garden or local flower farm, I promise there’s someone out there who will happily take your compost!

By the way, if you’re worried about the smell or pests in your kitchen, try storing food scraps in the freezer until you’re ready to take them out to the compost (or put it out on the curb). 

What to Put in Your Compost

Ok, before we get into it the truth is, all you REALLY need for rich, wonderful compost for your entire garden is…. (drum roll please)…  shredded leaves.

Mike McGrath from You Bet Your Garden explains why:

He talks about the nutritional powerhouse that are trees in our ecosystem and their gift to us each fall.  Basically, you simply can’t gather too many leaves in the fall (even suggesting you could get more from neighbors who are silly enough to rake and bag).  The shredding is the most important part, but most leaf blowers came with vacuum attachments and canvas bags for the mulch you’ll create.

You can use the mulch immediately if you want and/or create a compost pile with the rest. By spring, your pile will have reduced by half several times, leaving you with nutrient-rich compost. McGrath does go on to add that coffee grounds are a second “hot” ingredient that will kick start the compost pile and reduce it down even more quickly. (Not a home coffee drinker? Ask a local coffee shop for coffee grounds!)

But THIS eco-chat is in the context of composting to divert organic waste from the landfill, closing the loop and supporting sustainable, zero waste principles. To do so efficiently and effectively, you will want your compost to be a mix of “dry” (leaves, cardboard) and “wet” waste (coffee grounds, food scraps) so that it doesn’t just become a steaming puddle or a dry heap of trash. It’s best to turn the compost every few days or at least once a week to keep the additions mixed and encourage oxygen to do its job. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you’ll just play around with it until the consistency seems right. 

If it’s way too wet, oxygen won’t be able to circulate and it won’t decompose properly — remember all that aerobic decomposition stuff? So the dry ingredients are just as important as the wet, but keep in mind some items like paper and cardboard will decompose a lot faster if you shred them or cut them into smaller pieces. 

If it’s taking forever for your compost to decompose you might need more wet ingredients (or it’s just too cold.) If your compost is full of maggots and fly larvae you probably need more dry ingredients, but remember worms are actually great for compost! 

Common wet compostables include: 

• Veggie/fruit scraps
• Coffee grounds and tea leaves (natural tea bags are ok, but don’t put synthetic satchels in there)
• Egg shells
• Grass clippings, weeds, or other green plants
• Wilted flowers

Common dry compostables include: 

• Leaves or pine needles from the yard
• Sticks and branches
• Paper products
• Cardboard
• Stale or moldy bread/crackers
• Natural fabrics such as cotton, linen, wool, or silk (cut into small strips to speed up decomposition) 
• Dryer lint — from loads without synthetics (Psst: try wool dryer balls if you want an all-natural, compostable alternative to dryer sheets)
• Wooden toothpicks or chopsticks
• Dead houseplants (👀 it happens…)
• Human hair or pet fur (okay I know it’s getting weird, but you really can compost this stuff!)

Things you shouldn’t put in your compost:

• Meat, dairy, fats, and oils — this is for sanitary reasons. If your compost is going to be used for gardening purposes you don’t want bad bacteria growing in there because it could transfer to your vegetables in the garden. Industrial composts can handle meats because they reach high enough temperatures to kill off those bacteria, but you shouldn’t put them in your backyard compost. 
• Items that feel like plastic but are labeled as “compostable” by the manufacturer. Again, these can go in an industrial compost but your backyard pile won’t reach the temps necessary to break them down. 
• Anything synthetic
• Diseased or pest infected plants — They’ll just live in the soil and transfer to your future plants!
• Plants or yard clippings treated with pesticides or herbicides.
• Black Walnut Tree leaves, branches or walnuts — specific, I know, but this particular tree carries a hormone that inhibits the growth of other plants, so it’s terrible for making garden compost! 
• Pet waste — again, for sanitary reasons.

When Will My Compost Be Ready? 

This is tricky because it depends so much on the conditions of your personal compost. The answer is anywhere from 2 months to a year. When it’s warm, it’ll go faster. In the winter (if you live up north) it may do nothing at all. 

If it smells sour and looks wet, add more browns and wait a bit. If you want to speed up the process, turn your compost (meaning take a shovel and flip the contents around) every 2-4 weeks. This helps that aerobic decomposition and keeps it from being too wet at the bottom or too dry at the top. 

Your finished compost will be almost fluffy in consistency, and shouldn’t have any large chunks of original material. It’s great to mix with soil for your garden, houseplants, or flower beds. Have too much? Offer it up to your local neighborhood, I’m sure there’s a gardener who will gladly take it off your hands! 

If you have questions, the EPA offers a number of resources on home composting that are a great starting guide. 

“Fast fashion”, “slow fashion”, “thrifting” and “capsule wardrobe” — all terms you’ll hear thrown around in conversations around sustainability, but commonly misunderstood. 

Most people don’t really understand what these terms mean, how big the problem actually is, and how easily you can implement sustainable solutions. I’m going to shed some light on fast fashion and how you can become part of the sustainable/slow fashion movement.

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Fast Fashion vs Slow Fashion

Before you can understand why supporting slow fashion and sustainable shopping is important, it’s crucial to understand the difference between fast fashion vs slow fashion.

What is Fast Fashion? 

Fast fashion is the cheap, rapidly produced clothing that changes drastically from season-to-season to fit with current trends and styles. 

The term fast fashion first emerged in the 1990s with the start of inexpensive and stylish clothing companies like Zara, who mass-produce clothing with little regard for the environment. 

What is Slow Fashion? 

Slow fashion means quality, timeless clothing staples that a person can wear for many years to come.

Before the Industrial Revolution, people made their clothes by hand. Being pretty labor-intensive, they were made to last. And if you tore your pants, you would repair them, not purchase a new pair.

How Did Fast Fashion Start? 

Though the term emerged in the ‘90s, fast fashion began long before that. As factories gained technological advancements in machinery and production, clothes became easier and easier to manufacture. As new styles became easier to produce, fashion grew into a more prominent part of society. By the 1960s, fashion “seasons” emerged. Dressing with the new styles was a symbol of status – whether your clothes were expensive or not. 

Nowadays, fashion can change in the blink of a 10-second TikTok video. You can see how this is problematic.  

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Why Fast Fashion Is a Problem

Fast fashion hasn’t just grown since the 1960s… it’s exploded. 

Just since the year 2000, clothing sales worldwide have more than doubled. Meanwhile, the average number of times we wear our clothes before throwing them out is rapidly dropping. 

This is a problem because textile manufacturing is not a sustainable industry. 

Here are just a few textile industry facts that are sure to make you cringe: 

• Fast fashion is responsible for more CO2 emissions than airplane and maritime transportation combined. 
• 20% of global wastewater is the result of textile dyeing
• Manufacturing a single cotton shirt requires the same amount of emissions as driving a car for 35 miles. 
• 80% of clothing ends up in a landfill or gets incinerated at the end of its short life.

And unfortunately, that’s just the beginning. 

Fast fashion is also responsible for horrific working conditions and disastrous environmental damage to the local regions of production facilities. 

See, in order for these articles of clothing to be sold as cheaply as they are, they’re produced in countries with less regulations. Without ethical or environmental production regulations, the wages and working conditions of the factory workers are abysmal. The factories also cut corners by dumping toxic waste into rivers and seas rather than collecting and sending it to treatment plants. 

These factory conditions are so bad that in 2013 a multi-factory building in Bangladesh unexpectedly collapsed, killing over 1,100 workers and injuring 2,500 more. 

This is why boycotting fast fashion and buying fair-trade, sustainable products is so important. 

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Why Thrifting Is More Sustainable

Consider a pair of jeans: it takes 1,800 gallons of water to grow the cotton to make a single pair of jeans. (I know, it’s pretty mind-boggling, but it turns out cotton is a seriously thirsty crop.) Aside from growing the cotton, then you have to consider all the water it takes to wash the cotton, dye the jeans, and rinse out the excess dye.

Experts estimate it actually takes over 9,000 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans. 

So let’s break it down. 

If you wear those jeans 3x per week for 2 years, that’s 312 wears. Or, 28 gallons of water consumed for every day you wore them. 

If you extend the life of those jeans by two more years — that number drops to 14 gallons per day. Thrifting is one of the easiest ways to support slow fashion.

When you thrift or buy used clothes, you give a second life to something that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill. Even using a thrifted pair of jeans for a few more years saves massive amounts of carbon footprint by spreading out the resources used to create that item.

Video featuring Sustainable Jeans Hack (tiktok @bug318_): Thrifted jeans a size too small? Shower in them (or sit in the tub with them on) and then let them air dry. Voila!

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The Potential Pitfalls of Thrifting

One word of warning: Although thrift shopping IS more sustainable than shopping from fast fashion brands, there is another side to this coin. 

Because thrift items are cheap, we have a tendency to buy more than we need. We think, “I’m not sure about the ruffles on this shirt, but heck — it’s $2. I’ll just get it and I can always donate it back if I don’t wear it.” 

And while you might think you’re giving it a second life — if you literally never wear it, all you’ve done is provide an air-conditioned safe for it to sit in. Instead, leave it on the rack for someone who will love it, and choose items and clothes that bring you real joy. You know, the Marie Kondo way. 

When you reduce the number of clothes you own, you’ll also wear the clothes you do have more often, giving them the full lifespan they deserve. This is the idea behind a capsule wardrobe. It’s a minimalist approach that gives you everything you need in one small, neat closet. 

Also, don’t forget that when you shop new from a sustainable store, you’re supporting that business and voting with your money. So it’s not the end of the world if you don’t buy everything used. 

It’s all about balance and moderation. You don’t want to swing too far in one direction or the other. 

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Other Easy Ways to Extend the Life of Your Clothes

Of course, thrifting and buying sustainable clothing isn’t the only way to make your closet more sustainable. Here are a few very easy ways to extend the life of your wardrobe right now: 

• Learn simple mending techniques. 
  • Visible mending is a whole vibe!
• Rewear your items before washing them.
  • If they aren’t dirty, don’t wash them. This will save energy and water from the wash cycle, but it also preserves the quality of your clothes. Plus it’s just some made-up rule from the textile giants that we’re supposed to wash our clothes after a single wear. And it wasn’t until very recently that society adopted that habit.
• Wash your clothes on the cold cycle.
  •  This will both save energy and preserve your clothes. 
• Skip the dryer and hang dry your clothes. 
  • The dryer is the most detrimental part of our laundry process. It is very harmful to your clothes (and I don’t just mean the accidental shrinkage!) 
  • There’s a reason all your delicate clothes tell you to air dry. The dryer actually breaks apart the fibers in your clothes and is the main cause of wear. And you don’t have to hang dry your clothes every time. 

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All this to also add that I often feel like a broken record when I say this but, progress, not perfection, remember? Doing these things some of the time still counts and it helps!

Remember, education is power. I didn’t write this blog to make you feel guilty about your closet right now. Ten years ago, I didn’t know any of this!

I write it to help open the conversation. To inform intelligent, caring people about the issues they might not have heard about so they can keep moving toward a life that aligns with their values — because we’re all a work in progress 

If you learned something new, share this post with a friend! By sharing the knowledge we gain, we can make an even bigger impact on the environment, world and beyond. 

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Sources: 

1. https://earth.org/data_visualization/the-9-biggest-fast-fashion-statistics/
2. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/09/style/fashion-in-numbers-sept/

One of our 2022 Eco Mini-Challenges is to start your own garden because growing your own food is a great way to be more sustainable.

From a waste perspective so much of our food, especially fresh produce, is  packaged with petroleum based, single-use plastics. From the little stickers, to bags, to individually wrapped items, to unrecycleable clamshells for spring mix, and on and on and on and on. 

Gardening also connects you with your food, your farmer, and the earth. All wonderful and rewarding things, but for a lot of people it seems like a massive, overwhelming task. 

Just remember, it doesn’t have to be. If it’s intimidating, start small. See what works one year, then build on that the next year. 

I’ll be honest, I’m an extremely novice gardener. But I have been learning a lot about permaculture recently and now, of course, that’s what I want. It’s what I must have. Like many of you, I’m also extremely busy with general life things and frankly, I want to relax when I get downtime (do hobbies sometimes feel like more work to you too?), so what I really want is a food-producing permaculture space in my backyard that will be relatively low maintenance in the long run. 

Side Note: One big source of lazy gardener inspiration this year was Chapter 17 entitled Double the Food with One Tenth of the Effort in the book “Building a Better World in Your Backyard Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys” by Paul Wheaton and Shawn Klassen-Koop. Chapter subtitles include:

• • • • Transplanting? That’s Unnecessary Work
      • Prepping the Soil to Not Need Prepping
      • Planting Once and Harvesting for Years
      • Mulching 2.0: Being Naked is No Longer Required!
      • 3D Gardening – Big Berms Bring Big Benefits
      • How Trees Nurture Gardens, Cool Your Home, Heat Your Home, and Save the World
      • Replacing Fertilizer with Polyculture
      • Monocrops Need Pest Control; Nature Doesn’t

This is my kind of gardening, for sure. Anyway, I thought I’d collect some of that information here for you, and speak a bit about my own venture and experience so you can experiment with a garden for yourself!

Step One: Start with a Plan

Planning really is the crux of starting a garden. You need to know what plants you’re going to attempt growing, and when they need to be seeded or put into the ground. 

In Florida we’re lucky to have a little more leeway with our weather, but if you live further north this part is crucial. Plant too early and a hard frost will kill all your babies. Plant too late and you won’t get to harvest before the weather turns frosty again. 

In general, you probably need to start sooner than you think. 

Determine Your Gardening Space

The very first step is deciding how big you’re going to go. If it’s your very first time, try a container garden (meaning all of your plants will be in large pots.) 

The advantage of a container garden is that it’s very impermanent. You can set out as many or as few pots as you’d like and you have the ability to move them around to find the best places in your yard or on the porch. 

You can usually find a lot of secondhand pots on online marketplaces like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. And if you’re in Gainesville check out the Repurpose Project for pots. 

If you’re thinking of going bigger, be sure you know whether your garden will be in direct sun all day or if it gets more shade. 

You’ll also want to make sure wherever you garden can be reached by a hose, and won’t be disturbed by pets or small children. 

Select What Plants You’ll Grow

Now look at your options. 

One big thing to consider is what do you like eating? Some novice gardeners grow peas because someone said they were easy, but they don’t even like peas. Don’t do that. 

Think about your favorite vegetables and herbs and select a number of them that match your garden conditions. 

Then check out the recommended planting times for each of your selections and mark them on your calendar. 

In Gainesville, we have a wonderful resource in UF IFAS and I did most of my research for my little beginner garden on their website.

One warning to keep in mind: If you grow a lot of only one type of plant, say tomatoes, you’re likely to attract pests that will set up camp and gorge themselves on your poor tomatoes all season long. 

To avoid this sad fate, try to plant a variety (called polyculture gardening) and consider mixing in flowers like marigolds and sunflowers that will deter certain insects and attract others that you want.

I went for tomato, roselle, arugula, cucumber, carrots, and potatoes for my main garden. Then threw some shade-loving seeds down around our sweet gum tree — basil, garlic chive, butterfly weed, thyme. And I plan to start more seeds soon for watermelon, cow peas, sunflowers and other pollinators in other parts of the yard now that it’s warmed up. 

Step 2: Gather Supplies

I already had some seeds and ordered a bunch of others from Working Food (a Gainesville non-profit), but anyone can find seeds at nurseries, ag stores, and/or local “seed exchanges”. 

Also, don’t discount all the seeds you already have access to! Most of the food you buy at the grocery store is full of viable seeds that can be planted (especially if you buy organic, non-gmo). 

Learn how to Grow Fruits & Vegetables from Food Scraps! – EatingWell

I cut open a few tomatoes and used the seeds from them. I also used a few old red potatoes that had sprouted and they’re the happiest thing in my garden right now! 

You’ll also want to make sure you have the gardening essentials: gloves, trowel, watering can, hose, pots, grow lamp. Keep in mind most of these items are available at second hand stores, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or you might get lucky in your Buy Nothing group. Locally, we have The Repurpose Project (what an absolute treasure of a place, we are very lucky!). The point is to always repurpose and buy used when you can.

Step 3: Plant Your Seeds or Starters

If you’re starting from seeds, you’ll need to start them indoors. You could buy starter cups, but I think it’s more fun to repurpose things you may already have like cardboard egg cartons or even avocado skins. So many things would work, use your imagination! 

The newly planted seeds need to stay moist and get good light, so this typically means covering with a clear top after watering and providing a grow lamp during daytime hours. 

If you know you’ll have trouble remembering to turn the light on and off, you can buy a circuit timer that will do it for you. 

Harden Your Plants

This is one of those steps that requires some experimentation, and in fact isn’t always necessary. 

Basically your new baby plants have had a good life so far and they are therefore delicate and soft. That means they aren’t quite ready for the full harshness of the elements. If you buy seedlings from a nursery, this is also true. 

Set them out for a few hours a day, or for longer in a more protected area like a screened porch. You want to do this for several days to a week. 

Then they’re ready to be planted!

Plant Your Seedlings

If you want to avoid the plastic bags, but need garden soil and mulch, look for a local business in your area that sells it in bulk.

In Gainesville, we get soil from a place called Gaston Mulch and Soil and add a mineral soil booster and organic fertilizer. My husband has a pickup truck and can haul one yard in it, but they also offer delivery!  (up to 10 yards at a time)

We go pick up our soil, unload it into a pile in the backyard and then we have it to use as we keep adding to the garden. So far we’ve ordered two yards, but I think I might be ready for a third.

I didn’t spend a lot of time prepping my yard. Basically, I lightly tilled the area where I wanted my “rows” with a shovel, but I did not have grass there. If you DO have grass I would recommend laying down cardboard first, then the dirt. 

If you’re looking for a “lazier” setup (like me!), lay mulch between your plant rows to reduce the amount of weeding you’ll need to do.

I was able to “mulch” around the rows with pine straw from my front yard (we NEVER bag it, we just blow it all together around the trees and bushes lining the house, so it’s pretty great free mulch now), but again, look for a bulk supplier nearby! 

Step 4: Maintaining Your Garden

When your plants are little you still want to protect them from harsh weather. If there are freezing temperatures or storms, try to cover your plants. 

We were expecting some nasty thunderstorms recently, so I covered the little seedlings I was worried about with my jar collection. Bonus that the jars double as a quasi-greenhouse!

13 Tips for Plastic Free Gardening on the Cheap – Zero Waste Chef

Throughout the season you’ll want to water your plants in the morning, before the sun is too high in the sky. If you water midday you risk burning your plants, or having the water evaporate before your plants get as much as they need. If you water at night, you risk leaving too much moisture for too long and developing root rot or fungus and mold. 

Adding a rain barrel is a great way to reduce your rain consumption (and something I will be setting up soon!) You can also save water from boiling vegetables or noodles and feed it to your plants for some extra nutrients. 

And you can use your compost “tea” as fertilizer! (Mmm, right? 😉) 

Keep an eye out for bugs. But remember not all bugs are bad. Predator insects like praying mantises, spiders, soldier beetles, and ladybugs will actually help protect your garden by eating the bad bugs like aphids. Remember, if nothing is nibbling at your garden (because of pesticides), you’re not truly part of the ecosystem. 

Reap the Harvest

Finally, enjoy your fresh herbs and vegetables! 

This is really the best part, so be sure to savor your hard work. 

And if you do have garden success this year be sure to share it with us! Tag us on Instagram @unplasticgnv.