In June 2007, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance regulating small-scale compost operations, such as those found in residential backyards. Small-scale compost operations, as defined by the ordinance, are exempt from Chicago Department of Environment permit requirements. The ordinance, however, requires that these compost operations are well-managed.  The Chicago Bureau of Rodent Control requires the use of a rodent-resistant composting system. Use a bin with a lid, a floor, and no holes or gaps larger than ¼ inch.

Composting is nature’s way of recycling and is the key to healthy soil and a healthy environment.  It is a satisfying way to turn your fruit, vegetable and yard trimmings into a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling soil conditioner.

There are three main methods of composting.  1.  Aerobic 2.  Anaerobic and 3.  Vermi-composting.  Aerobic composting means to compost with air.  High nitrogen waste (like grass clipping or other green material) will grow bacteria that will create high temperatures and the organic waste will break down quickly and is not prone to smell.  Anaerobic composting is closest to what happens in our landfills.  If yous stack your table scraps and lawn clippings in a pile, it will generally compact to the point where there is no air available for beneficial organisms to live.  Within a few years, the items will break down.  This type of composting create the terrible smell that many people associate with composting and is not recommended for city living.  The final type is composting with worms and this type is most beneficial for composting food waste.  Worms eat your kitchen scraps which pass through the worms body, exiting through the tail and turning into nutrient rich compost.

See below for a step by step guide to get you composting.  Not ready to commit to your own pile now or don’t have the space or time for one?  Check out Collective Resource, a food scrap pick up service and event composting service.

Steps to Get You Composting

Step # 1: Select what kind of composting you are going to do

As mentioned above, there are three different types of composting. Aerobic, Anaerobic and Vermi-composing (worm composting).  The two most common for city dwellers is aerobic, or basic composting, which is to be done outdoors and vermi-composting which can be done indoors or outdoors.  Basic composting is good for yard trimmings or a mixture of fruit, vegetable and yard trimmings and is pretty low maintenance.  Composting with worms is used mainly for fruit and vegetables and requires less space and can be done indoors or in a shady area outdoors.

Step # 2: Select what kind of bin to use and worms

There are several options available and whether you choose to purchase a bin or make one yourself is a personal preference.  If you are interested in building your own bin, there are several places online that have “how-to’s”.  Check out the Illinois Extension Chicago Home Composting guide or simply Google “How to build a compost bin.” If buying is more your speed, there are lots of options available.  One of the most popular basic composting bins is the Earth Machine and the Urban Worm Girls have their favorite 3 tray worm composting bin for sale on their site.

If worm composting is the direction you’re going, then you’ll have to get worms and bedding, because the worms need not only food to eat, but a habitat to live in.  Shredded newspaper or coconut coir will do the trick.  The best kind of worm for composting is the Red Wiggler. This kind of worm can eat and process large amounts of organic material (up to half their body weight), reproduce rapidly, and adapt to various environments.  You can purchase these worms and coconut coir from Urban Worm Girls and keep in mind that their 3 tray bin can hold up to 10 lbs. of worms at maximum capacity and will control their reproduction rates and do not need to be removed.

Step # 3: Collect your scraps

Composting starts in the kitchen.  Collect your kitchen scraps and every couple of days put in your bin.  There are even several attractive counter top pails on the market that will make collecting a snap.  A tip from the folks at Earth Machine is to line your pail with newspaper or paper towel, which will allow for the material to slide right out, and the newspaper and paper towel can be composted too!  Aerobic or basic composting works best with a mixture of nitrogen rich and carbon rich materials.  For worm composting, it’s best to stick with the nitrogen rich materials.

What to compost?

• Fruit scraps, vegetable scraps (nitrogen rich)
• Houseplant cuttings (nitrogen rich)
• Coffee grounds (nitrogen rich)
• Rice & pasta (nitrogen rich)
• Egg shells (nitrogen rich)
• Tea bags (nitrogen rich)
• Flowers (nitrogen rich)
• Vegetables (nitrogen rich)
• Plant trimmings (nitrogen rich)
• Hedge clippings (nitrogen rich)
• Coffee filters, stale bread (carbon rich)
• Paper napkins & towels (carbon rich)
• Dryer lint (carbon rich)
• Hair (carbon rich)
• Leaves (carbon rich)
• Straw or hay (carbon rich)
• Small twigs/chips (carbon rich)
• Dried grass and weeds (carbon rich)

Step # 4: Take your scraps to your bin and let the composting begin!

Earth Machine has a great composting guide for basic composting.  Composting happens on its own, but they have provided some steps to help it along.

Chop
It helps to chop up larger items like watermelon rinds or corn cobs before putting them in your Kitchen Collector.

Empty
Once your Kitchen Collector is full, take it to your bin and empty it out.

Stir
Mix the new material into the existing pile using a turner, pitchfork or other garden tool. This also adds oxygen, a key component to successful composting.

Cover
Cover your food waste with a handful of old leaves, other dried yard waste or soil. This will add carbon and reduce the chance of odors and fruit flies. If it looks a bit dry, add some water, then put the lid back on and let it “cook”.

IF YOU ARE COMPOSTING WITH WORMS, YOUR STEPS WILL VARY SLIGHTLY.

Chop
It helps to chop up larger items like watermelon rinds or corn cobs before putting them in your Kitchen Collector.

Empty
Once your Kitchen Collector is full, take it to your bin and empty it out.  Lift the bedding and bury the materials at about an inch below the bedding and cover again.

Moisten
Making sure that the bedding is slight moist will help in your composting. The best way to do this is with a spray bottle, spraying the bedding until slightly damp, but not enough to “wring” any water out.

Too Much Food for the Worms? Freeze it!
If you find that with the great collection of fruits and veggies coming ripe in your garden, CSA box, or at the local farmers’ market, you may have more food than the worms can eat! Worms eat half their body weight per day, but will often take longer to eat thicker foods like broccoli stems, cauliflower hearts, potatoes, carrots, beets, and other root veggies. To help worms eat these foods faster, toss scraps into a container and then freeze them and thaw them out before putting into your worm bin. The freezing process will help to soften the food and break down the material so it is easier for the worms to consume it. Keep in mind, worms don’t have any teeth, and their mouths work like straws to simply suck in food, so the softer, mushier, and more water-rich the food the faster the worms can consume it.

Step # 5: Harvest your compost

As stated on the Illinois Extension Chicago Home Composting website, there are several ways you can use your compost, once it looks like soil and smells sweet and earthy.  Depending on what kind of system and bin you are using, harvesting the compost will vary slightly in method and time.  Typically, the ready compost (which can take a few weeks to a few months, depending on the time of year and method) is on the bottom of the bin and some even have doors located there to make this step easier.  Either way, there is a lot you can do with your old table scraps, which has turned into wonderful fertilizer!

In the Garden
Before planting, mix a 4″ to 8″ layer of compost into newly reclaimed or poor soils. Mix a 1″ to 3″ layer of compost into annual garden beds at least once a year.

Around the Yard
Spread a 1″ to 3″ layer of course compost on soil as a mulch any time during the growing season to improve soil fertility and reduce watering needs. Do not pile mulch on the trunk or stem of plants.

On House Plants
Sprinkle a thin layer of sifted compost on top of the soil to provide nutrients.

Winter Care

During the cold Chicago winters, you’ll probably notice that your outdoor composting will slow down.  Keep filling your bin up as normal, and when the warmer weather comes around, the decomposing will take place quicker.  If you are composting with worms and have been storing your bin outside, you’ll want to bring them inside, in the garage or in the basement once it get’s colder than 45 degrees.

Bokashi

Ok, so now that you have your composting processes up and running and you can turn all your yard waste, food scraps, and paper into nutrient-rich soil, what can you do with all the foods that don’t go into an outdoor or worm composting pile? Foods such as meat scraps and bones, dairy, oils, butters, and vinegars are not recommended for inclusion in composting, as these materials can become rancid, produce foul odors, or attract pests. Never fear, Bokashi is here! Bokashi “composting” is actually a process of fermenting food that uses a wheat bran mixture that has been incubated with the Bokashi enzymes that help to break down the food scraps and ferment the material. This process reduces the overall volume of the food and leaves you with the fermented material which can then be buried into the ground and return the nutrients to the soil. Within 2 weeks you can then plant in this ground, gaining all the benefits from the fully fermented material. The Bokashi process can be used with meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, oils, vinegars, even bones!

Additional Chicago Resources

To learn more, check out these links below, and if you have any words to the wise, let us know by posting in our forum or by writing us!

• University of Illinois Extension Chicago Home Composting
• Collective Resource
• City of Chicago website
• Chicago Now’s Garden Blog
• Chicago Botanic Garden
• Urban Worm Girl
• The Compost Queen

The University of Illinois Extension Master Composters are the experts when it come to composting at home.  For their composting information booklet in PDF form, click here.

To see the full Chicago composting ordinance, click below.

Composting Ordinance

What are we missing?  Tell us by visiting our forum or by contacting us!