DIY Projects For Home Decorating: 8 Great Tips For Finding FREE Compost Materials

Compost is a necessity if you want to have great soil and healthy, productive plants. Along with cover crops, compost is one of the two major components that are critical to our garden's success year after year. However, for many people, finding sources to create that compost can be difficult. Today's post is all about finding endless supplies of cheap (meaning free) materials to build any size compost pile you like!
Every single day, in communities all over the world - millions if not billions of pounds of compostable materials are wasted by heading to a landfill. Although many cities and townships are beginning to have their own composting facilities - most still don't. And among those that have them - only a small portion of those materials actually make it to the facility. So, what does that mean for you? It means that with just a little planning and leg work - you can have all the materials you want for free.
Whether you compost in 5 gallon buckets, fancy bins, barrels or in a huge pile "out back" - finding the resources to fill your pile should never be a problem. A quick word of caution when finding materials - make sure the materials you collect are from a safe source. Wood shavings made from treated lumber, or grass clippings from a chemically treated lawn are not good additions to your compost pile. Just using a little common sense goes a long way when collecting.
The following list is by no means the end-all to finding free material - but it's a great start:
1. Breakfast Diners and Cafes
Diners and cafes can be the mother-load of free composting materials! Most restaurants plow through dozens of eggs and potatoes each day, and left-over egg shells and vegetable peels make fantastic additions to your pile. Once again - it's all about asking - most places are more than glad to give their scraps away. A local cafe here goes through over 12 dozen eggs during a single breakfast rush - not to mention pounds of potato peels and coffee grounds. One single pick up of a few five gallon pails of materials can be the beginning of a great compost pile.
2. The Black Friday Composting Bonanza - Straw, Pumpkins, Gourds & More...
Black Friday - that crazy day after Thanksgiving. Well, we think it should be called "Black Gold Friday". Why? Because all of those people that decorated for Harvest Fests and Thanksgiving suddenly have no use for those straw bales, pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks. They can be yours simply for the asking - and a quick way to get great material for your pile. We scored over 7 bales of free straw and a slew of pumpkins and gourds from friends and family just this past year.
3. Coffee Houses
Coffee grounds are a perfect choice for adding to your pile - and small coffee shops are a great place to find them! In fact, many coffee houses routinely save their grounds for customers. Some bigger chains even create a list of customers to save grounds for - insuring that the by-product of all of their brewing doesn't end up in the local landfill. Many of those same coffee shops serve breakfast and lunch as well, so they might be a good source for additional materials. Either way, you can get a great cup of coffee and get free compost materials!
4. Landscapers & Tree Companies
When you see those tree trimming and landscaping trucks in your neighborhood with the big shredders attached - ask them to drop off a load to your house. You'll be surprised how many are more than happy to accommodate you with tons of shredded goodness for free - many times saving them a costly fee and a trip to go dump them. This is where that dose of common sense comes in handy - it's a good idea to see what will be in the load. Shredded leaves and wood chips are a good source - but you might shy away from a tree company shredding up poison ivy vines :).
5. Grocery Stores & Produce Stands
Small grocery stores and produce stands can be a goldmine for composting materials. You might have luck with large chain stores as well, but smaller mom and pop locations are usually easier to deal with on the local level, and more than happy to help. Simply ask the store manager what is currently done with expired produce - and you might be surprised that they are willing to save it for you. Those rotten tomatoes, potatoes and fruit may be past their prime as a food source - but they make great additions to any compost pile.
6. Local Horse Stables, Hobby Farms and Farmers
Get to know your local farm community. Many local hobby farmers and owners of small horse stables are more than glad to give away their manure to gardeners. And so what if you don't have a truck - keep a couple of five gallon buckets handy (with a lid of course :) ), and take some home to your compost pile. The high nitrogen sources in chicken, cow, horse and rabbit manure really helps to heat your pile to make quick compost. For those that worry about the smell or odor - if you blend manure into your compost pile - little or no odor can be detected.
7. Fall Leaves & Clean Up Time
We talk about this one a lot, but fall is the easiest time to gather free materials for the compost bin! Just take a short trip around a few wooded neighborhoods, and you can have an endless supply of leaves for your pile. Most of the time, they are already bagged at the curbside for easy pick-up. We collect as many as we can each fall and store the extra for use throughout the season. Its a great way for us to have a year-round supply for use in future compost piles or mulching garden plants.
8. Neighbors & Friends
Yes, neighbors. You know the people that live beside and down the street from you? The ones you have never met but wave to every day. They are a great source of composting materials - and this is a great way to get to know them! They eat eggs, they have morning coffee, and they have potato peels and grass clippings. Now if they compost already - you may be out of luck. But you would be surprised how many of them just might save and supply you with more scraps than you can handle. What can it hurt to ask? You might make some new great neighborhood friends!
So there you have it - 8 great tips to finding free compost materials. The list of ways to find free materials could go on and on, and with just a little work on your part, you can have an endless supply of materials to build your pile. Your garden will thank you and reward you with great plants and produce! If you want to know more about composting, you can follow the link here to our post on : Composting 101.
- Jim and Mary
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