Compost your holiday leftovers

Having friends over for the Labor Day weekend?  Collect the compostables and bring them to CUCC.  If you don’t want to make an extra trip mid-week, stick the container in your freezer or refrigerator until you come to the building on Sunday.

A reminder… why do we compost?

Landfills – even those with methane capture systems – still allow lots of methane to escape into the atmosphere.  Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so that escaping methane advances climate change.  Industrial composting is designed to use aerobic decomposition which does not produce methane.  And, it creates rich soil amendment for local farms.  An added benefit of working with Compost Now is that we can compost many more things than one can do at home.  Our estimates are that our composting at CUCC keeps as many greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere as our solar array.

These items ARE compostable!

Fruit and vegetable scraps – This includes fruit pits!
Meat, bones, and fish products
Pasta, bread, and cereal
Cooked and raw foods
Dairy products and egg shells
Nuts and nut shells
Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags – For tea bags, be sure to remove the staple first!
Paper towels and paper towel rolls
Soiled paper food packaging – This is true IF the food packaging is 100% paper and does not have a waxy liner. If the packaging does have a waxy liner, it is only compostable if the packaging says that it is “BPI-Certified Compostable.”
Pizza boxes
Muffin wrappers
Flour and sugar bags
Candies, cookies and cake
Baking ingredients, herbs, and spices
Household plants including soil
Pet food
Items labeled BPI-Certified Compostable
Items labeled ASTM D6400 or D6868
Cheesecloth – 100% cotton, unbleached cheesecloth is compostable.
Cooking oil -Please ensure that the oil is COOLED and only add up to two cups per bin at a time.
Wine corks – This includes only natural corks and does not include synthetic corks.  Tip: Slice open the cork to see if it’s natural cork or synthetic.
Fabrics – 100% cotton, wool, hemp, jute, silk, linen, and cashmere are all compostable. Be sure to remove any metal parts, plastisol paints, and adornments.
Paper Plates – This includes 100% paper plates that do not have a plastic coating.  Tip: Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether a paper plate has a plastic coating. Generally, a good trick is to try and rip the plate in half. If it tears easily and without coming apart into layers, it is compostable. If it’s hard, or the top layer comes off, it is likely plastic coated and is not compostable.
Tissues – Plain tissues are compostable (i.e. those that are not infused with lotions).
Wax Paper – Plain wax paper is compostable, but it must not be confused with parchment paper or other baking sheets not specifically labeled as “wax paper.”
Wood sticks – This includes products like ice cream sticks, coffee stirrers, and chopsticks.
Newspaper
Tissue paper – This is compostable as long as it isn’t glossy, dyed, or contains glitter.
Matches
Cheese rinds (natural rinds, any rinds made of wax like Babybel are NOT compostable)
Sawdust (derived from 100% natural, untreated wood)
Dryer balls made of 100% wool

These items are NOT compostable!

PLASTIC – Plastic products are not compostable unless they specifically say they are either BPI-Certified Compostable or labeled ASTM D6400 or D6868.  Tip: You can search the BPI-Compostable database to see if your product is compostable using this website.
Styrofoam meat trays
Aluminum foil
Clams, oysters, and mussels – They are basically rocks and are hard to breakdown.
Candles, synthetic corks, and gum
Artificial flowers and plants
Rugs and carpets
Cigarette butts and tobacco
Dental floss and Q-tips
Baby wipes
Diapers – We cannot accept human waste.
Disposable mop sheets
Dryer lint
Dryer sheets
Vacuum cleaner bags and vacuum contents
Hair, pet fur, and pet waste
Dead animals
Fireplace and BBQ ashes
Items labeled biodegradable or oxo-biodegradable  Those labels are essentially meaningless.
Drug pill and vitamin pills
Ice cream containers
Milk containers
Oatmeal packets
Paper towels, cotton balls, cotton rounds used with non-compostable cleaning products
Produce stickers
Takeout containers – They are not compostable unless they specifically say they are either BPI-Certified Compostable or labeled ASTM D6400 or D6868.
Receipts
Popcorn bags
Butcher paper
Butter wrappers
Fingernail clippings