Look appetizing? It is to the thousands of microbes found in your compost pile! PC: Lindsey Kramer

Rotten fruits and vegetables help nourish the billions of microbes found in your compost pile! PC: Author

CRB-Safe Home Composting Tips:

Look appetizing!? It is to the billions of microbes found in your compost pile! With all of the recent discussion about store-bought soil/compost and the invasion of the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) onto previously uninvaded islands, we wanted to share some simple tips for easy composting at home:
Fruit and vegetable peels and scraps, coffee grounds, paper products (including packaging), leaves, grass clippings, and food scraps are all good for your compost pile. PC: Lindsey Kramer

Fruit and vegetable peels and scraps, coffee grounds, paper products (including packaging), leaves, grass clippings, and food scraps are all good for your compost pile. PC: Author

  1. Keep it sealed: Prevent the invasion of CRB into your compost by keeping it in a sealed container.
  2. Put the right stuff in your pile: Fruit and vegetable peels and scraps, coffee grounds, paper products (including packaging), leaves, grass clippings, and other food scraps are all great for your compost pile. Most experts recommend avoiding meat or bone products, which decompose slowly and may attract unwanted pests.
  3. Create layers: Alternate layering carbon-rich paper products/leaves and nitrogen-rich food scraps to create the right nutrient composition for your pile. Remember that your carbon-rich layers should be a bit thicker than your food scrap layers to support proper breakdown of the material.
  4. Water it: Keep your compost pile damp (but don’t overwater). This helps with the breakdown process.
  5. Turn it: Overturn your pile weekly to increase aeration and support decomposition processes.
  6. Too smelly?: If you notice a stink coming from your pile, add more carbon-rich materials (paper/leaves) and turn.
Home composting also keeps food scraps out of our landfill, which reduces our methane and greenhouse gas emissions, benefiting our climate and coral reefs.
You can do it! We believe in you. No need to buy store-bought products with questionable origins!  
Do you home compost? Anything we missed in our list? Please let us know in the comments!

Learn more:

Read more about CRB-safe composting from our friends at the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response, found at: https://www.crbhawaii.org/post/safe-composting-tips
Alternate layering carbon-rich paper products/leaves and nitrogen-rich food scraps to create the right nutrient composition for your pile. PC: Lindsey Kramer

Alternate layering carbon-rich paper products/leaves and nitrogen-rich food scraps to create the right nutrient composition for your pile. PC: Author