This photo depicts rich compost and food scraps.
Urban composting can help reduce food waste and enrich your garden. environmental packages. istockphoto/Elena Weinhardt.
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  • Home composting keeps food waste out of landfills and helps gardeners improve their soil. And getting started is easier than you may think.
  • A basic knowledge of managing a compost pile can help urban and suburban composters minimize odors and avoid attracting rodents.
  • Adding enough “brown” material like leaves or straw is especially important for eliminating smells and keeping composting microbes happy. One expert says the composter needs to see herself as a “zookeeper for microorganisms.”

Urban composting achieves two important aims for the environmentally-minded Detroiter: generating biologically active and nutrient-rich compost for use in the garden and keeping kitchen and yard waste out of the landfill.

Composting can be as simple as layering food scraps and dried leaves in a pile and giving it sufficient time to break down and turn into compost. But urban and suburban residents may have special concerns about composting, worrying about attracting rodents or generating odors that could bother their neighbors.

What follows are answers to some common composting questions and advice for those looking to make composting work without creating issues with their neighbors.

How does compost happen?

A successful compost pile involves roughly equal amounts of what is called “green” and “brown” materials. Green materials contain high amounts of nitrogen and include things like fruit and vegetable scraps, weeds and grass clippings, coffee grounds, and eggshells. Brown materials include dried leaves and straw. Newspaper, sawdust, and woodchips are also brown materials but should be used sparingly because they break down slowly and leave little room for air to infiltrate the pile.

Meats, bones, dairy and oil shouldn’t go in home compost piles because they tend to smell and attract rodents. Dog and cat waste is also a no-go in the compost pile because they can carry parasites.

While food scraps and green materials often arrive year-round, brown materials can be harder to come by. Detroiters may want to stockpile leaves in the fall to use throughout the year as they add kitchen waste. Alternatively, a home composter could pick up a bale of straw from a garden or feed store and add a layer after each addition of green material.

Sara Covatta, a metro Detroiter who runs the social media feed, The Suburban Rat Hater’s Guide to Composting, said she recommends composters add an equal or double amount of leaves to the pile for every addition of compost. 

Putting leaves or straw on last helps reduce odor and preserve moisture from food scraps, which is important for the microorganisms that break down waste into compost.

“People need to realize that when they compost, they’re like zookeepers for microorganisms,” Covatta said. They need food, water, and air.”

Although materials will break down eventually without help, composters can facilitate the process by periodically mixing the pile with a shovel or garden fork. Spraying down the pile can also be helpful, especially during summer heat if it begins to dry out. The ideal moisture for composting materials will resemble a wrung-out sponge: moist but not dripping wet.

How do I avoid bad smells with urban composting?

Covatta said most failed compost experiments occur when composters don’t add enough brown material. Adding enough dried leaves or straw will also eliminate any odor from rotting materials high in nitrogen and make the pile less desirable for rodents and other critters.

“Compost should always smell like healthy earth,” Covatta said.

However, adding too much brown material, failing to water, or turning a pile periodically can also slow the composting process.

If the pile is large enough and turned and watered regularly, it will heat up—what composters call a “hot pile”—indicating that heat-loving microbes are helping to drive the composting process. But a pile needs to be fairly large, at least 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet, to heat up.

For many home composters, getting a pile to heat up is more trouble than it’s worth, especially if the primary aim is to keep material out of the landfill. However, even a poorly maintained compost pile that is seldom turned or watered and never heats up will eventually create compost.

How do I keep rats away from my compost pile?

Ongoing rat issues in suburbs like Ferndale and Royal Oak have made free-standing compost piles a tough sell, Covatta said. She thinks rats are more attracted by garbage and seed from bird feeders but recommends that residents use enclosed composters, which can be something as simple as a metal trash can with air holes punched in it.

This writer has composted in various Detroit neighborhoods for years and has never had a problem with rodents, although others have reported problems in the city.

Patrick Crouch, who managed Earthworks Urban Farm on the east side of Detroit, had an issue with rats moving into a well-maintained backyard compost pile. His solution was laborious but effective. He buried a plastic trash can with holes drilled in it to compost the kitchen scraps that would be most enticing to rodents, continuing to use an open pile for other yard waste.

What are some other methods that are good for urban composting?

Bokashi composting can also quickly break down kitchen scraps to later add to a compost pile, Covatta said. This method uses bacteria to predigest waste material in an airtight container, and it can be a good option for those with limited space or who want to accelerate the composting process.

Vermicomposting, or using worms to break down kitchen waste, is another option for those short on space, although it may require a bit more management than chucking scraps on the backyard pile.

Whatever approach you choose for composting, Covatta said that the most important thing is to just start doing it and not get too bogged down trying to find the “best way” to compost.

When is the compost done?

A hot pile that has cultivated heat-loving microbes, with temperatures around 150° F or higher, can create compost in a few months, whereas a cold pile may often take several years. Finished compost will be almost black and have a pleasant, earthy smell. It’s best to let finished compost “cure” for several months so materials can slowly continue to degrade and nutrient levels in the compost stabilize.

Composters may want to screen finished or semi-finished compost to remove large pieces of material that haven’t broken down yet. A screen can be a square frame of two by fours with ¼-inch hardware cloth stapled on one side. Composters place the screen on top of a wheelbarrow or tub and use it to sift compost through.

This finished compost makes a terrific soil amendment. It adds microbes and nutrients to the garden, helps maintain appropriate moisture levels, and loosens heavy soils.

Well-sifted and cured compost can also be used to amend houseplants.

Where can I learn more about composting?

There’s no shortage of composting info online but attending a workshop or visiting a friend who’s already composting can be a great place to start.

Food PLUS Detroit will be hosting compost events every day this week and Detroit nonprofit Keep Growing Detroit will offer a class on composting on May 23.

Covatta will be hosting composting and worm bin demos on May 10 and 11 at Bowers School Farm in Bloomfield Hills. 

The California nonprofit Solana Center offers an online compost guide, and North Carolina State Extension provides many guides and videos on various composting systems and other ways of managing food waste.

Finally, for those without the space to compost themselves, there are a couple local services that pick up food waste for composting. These include Midtown Composting and Scrap Soils, which pick up food waste from both residences and businesses.

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Brian Allnutt is a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit. He covers the climate crisis, environmental justice, politics and open space.