If you’re new to backyard composting, you may have come across articles describing what to compost and what not to compost while researching. Often, you’re advised to avoid adding meat, cooked food, and dairy products to the compost pile. So, can you compost cheese, or is it bad for the composting process?
Composting is an excellent way to turn waste into usable material. Whether you use a countertop unit or a large compost bin, it’s easy to do indoors or outside. However, adding the proper organic matter is vital to help the materials decay and break down accordingly.
Typical materials for home composting are grass clippings, twigs, straw, and other yard waste, and food scraps like egg shells, fruits, and veggies. These green and brown materials ensure you get balanced, rich, finished compost. Yet, it’s possible to add other items, such as cheese, as long as you follow proper composting steps.
Composting With Cheese
Compost, or black gold as farmers call it, is nature’s way of turning yard and food waste into plant food. It’s rich in nutrients and excellent for returning lost minerals to the soil. While many materials are compostable, caution is required when composting dairy products like cheese.
It’s safe to compost cheese with the proper preparation and maintenance, as long as you don’t mind the smell. Learn what to expect when composting cheese and how to compost cheese from beginning to end.
Can You Compost Cheese?
You may know it’s safe to compost a tea bag, paper towel, food scraps, and other organic waste, but can cheese be composted? The quick answer is yes. However, there are things to be aware of before adding cheese to the compost pile.
Cheese and other dairy products are notorious for attracting insects, mice, rats, and other vermin with their odor. This is the main reason many avoid adding it to the compost pile. Its overwhelming smell is also unpleasant to you and your neighbors. Nonetheless, avoiding these issues is possible if you take preventative steps.
Things to Know About Composting Cheese
Composting cheese is relatively straightforward, but there’s a right and wrong way to do it. Discover tips to ensure that you get safe and valuable finished compost at the end of the process.
Is cheese good for compost, and is cheese wax compostable? Cheese benefits compost material by adding protein and fat. Unfortunately, wax paper, plastic bags, paraffin wax, microcrystalline wax, and Babybel cheese wax are not compostable. Remove them before tossing cheese into the pile. Check with the Biodegradable Products Institute if you’re unsure what is biodegradable.
It’s a good idea to alter the way you compost when adding cheese to ensure you get good results. Try not to add too much cheese at one time since excess cheese smells terrible as it starts to decompose. To lessen the chance of odors, bury the cheese in the middle of the other compostable material and cover the bin with a plastic tarp.
How to Compost Cheese
Now that you’ve decided to add cheese to the compost bin, it’s time to start composting. Explore how to compost cheese with green and brown material.
Choose a ventilated, sunny area of the yard for your compost bin. Start by layering the bottom with browns like dry leaves, a shredded paper bag, a compostable bag, and pine needles. Add a layer of kitchen scrap items from your green cart. Try to combine a ratio of three to four parts brown with one green.
Cheese scrap is considered a green material, but don’t just put cheese in compost randomly. Instead, place it between layers of browns and other greens in the middle of the heap. Turn the pile weekly and water it as needed so the material is damp but not soggy. Consider using an electric composter or hot composting to speed up the process.
While composting cheese is not an ideal way to compost, it is doable. It is smellier than a regular compost bin and may attract rodents and other pests. The key is adding only a little at a time and burying it in the center of other organic material.
Can you compost cheese is a common question when backyard composting, and we’d love it if you’d share our cheese composting guide with your DIY friends and family on Pinterest and Facebook to help them compost right.