Advice from local composting enthusiasts
When I started asking around Panaga for advice about composting, I found that most people fall into two categories. Some have been doing it forever. Others assume it’s like a neon sign calling monkeys, rats and snakes to visit the garden for all their meals.
And if we’re being honest, it also sounds kind of gross and laborious. So why bother?
Well, there are some compelling reasons. Up to 30% of household trash and lawn waste can be composted at home, and when this very biodegradable material slowly decomposes in the anaerobic conditions of a landfill, it creates huge amounts of methane. Also, collecting the waste and transporting it to landfills requires a lot of fuel. Home composting mitigates both of these environmental impacts and has the further benefit of reducing the need for chemical fertilizers in your home garden, which run off into our local water supplies and can wreak havoc on those delicate ecosystems.
In short, composting is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and help protect local marine-life, and it comes with the warm-fuzzy feelings you might expect from a save-the-planet gesture.
Moreover, it’s not hard at all.
The Nammaris have been composting for years, and Diya was kind enough to walk me through their tried-and-true process. They collect their compostable materials (vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds) in open containers in the sinks in the laundry room. I’m happy to report that this weirdly does not stink.
About once a week, Diya dumps the scraps into the plastic, rotating composting bins in the backyard along with some garden waste (cut grass, dry leaves). If the material gets too wet, he adds more yard clippings to the bins. He emphasized the importance of balancing carbon-rich (green)1 and nitrogen-rich (brown)2 material for faster decomposition.
Every few weeks, Diya transfers the contents of one of the bins to a brick-lined compost heap, which he built off the ground to keep it clear of the rainwater that floods the garden. He digs a hole in the heap, dumps the partially decomposed material into the hole and covers it with more soil.
After about a week, it’s broken down enough to be used in the garden, where the basil in particular is flourishing.
The Nammaris are not the only ones composting around here. Jenna Anand, who sought advice from Diya, has an even simpler system: “I’ve dug a pit (about a foot deep), lined it with bricks, and put waste in the pit. I then cover with sandy soil.” And that’s pretty much it. She collects kitchen scraps in a container and then transfers them to the compost pile. She keeps a shovel handy to dig a hole for the scraps, which helps turn the contents. “Typically things disappear very quickly,” she says. She doesn’t use the soil, but “some plants have sprouted out of the pile, which is of great interest to the kids.”
Outpost’s own POP Editor, Tripti Sharma, just started composting last December after getting a composter as a birthday gift. Her family has a long tradition of composting and she was eager to handle her household waste more responsibly. Her husband, Vivek, was supportive but skeptical, worried it would stink. Now, Tripti says, he doesn’t even notice it’s there.
Tripti uses one plastic composting bin and no compost heap. (I purchased a similar bin at The Tool Box in Bandar.) She collects kitchen scraps in a container and puts them into the composter every two or three weeks, along with an equal amount of brown material, including hay and sawdust from her pet rabbit’s cage. By the time that batch is ready to use in her garden, the kitchen scrap container is full again and ready to go into the vacated composter.
But, really, what about the monkeys?
Believe it or not, the composting Panagans I spoke with assured me this is not a problem. “I’ve never had any issues with monkeys as it is underground, buried,” Jenna says. Macaques are regular visitors to both the Nammaris’ and the Sharmas’ gardens, but because there’s no animal waste and because the kitchen scraps are mixed with yard waste, the monkeys are not particularly interested in the compost.
Ramon Van Dijk has had some experience with opportunistic wildlife coming by for a snack. “In the beginning I just put some kitchen scraps out for the chicken,” he says, “but it also attracted mice. Then I started putting it into a hole I dug in the backyard and that worked ok, though monkeys did come and rummage through it a bit. Then recently I built the simple composting box from wood I found on the beach and that has proven to be quite handy… and rodents and monkeys are reduced/eliminated.”
(Credit: Ramon Van Dijk)
That said: Don’t put animal products (except eggshells) in your compost! Although animal products will definitely decompose and would probably add lots of great nutrients to your garden soil, they will also attract all of the rodents and reptiles you’d rather not see on the property.
Ready to start composting? Check out the linked resources or chat with one of our friendly local composting enthusiasts. Switching to a more sustainable practice can seem like an enormous undertaking and a huge lifestyle shift. In reality, it’s just a matter of setting up a system and starting a new habit, which is probably not much more labor-intensive or time-consuming than whatever you were doing before. And what better time to switch up household habits than now, when many of us are spending so much time at home?
As Jenna says, “It’s easy, just put it back in the ground.”
Resources
- https://www.thespruce.com/composting-greens-and-browns-2539485
- https://www.eco-business.com/press-releases/small-scale-co-composting-process-and-efficient-methods
- https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
- Green (nitrogen): Grass clippings, coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetable/fruit scraps, eggshells, animal manures (except dog/cat poop), seaweed. ↩︎
- Brown (carbon): Dry leaves, straw or hay, sawdust, paper (e.g., newspaper, paper plates/napkins, coffee filters), cotton fabric, corrugated cardboard (shredded, without waxy/slick paper coatings). ↩︎
*This article was originally published in the May 2020 issue of Panaga Outpost Pages, a community newsletter in the Belait district of Brunei Darussalam.