Backyard Composting

Before filling your containers, think about how your yard trim can be turned into a useable material. Yard trim often produces rich nutrients to fertilize your yard and garden the natural way.

Composting

1-CompostingIconYou can use compost as an easier, more convenient way to handle yard trim such as grass clippings, leaves, and vegetable peelings. These materials create a mixture that provides excellent material for mulching trees and shrubs and enhancing the gardens.

Benefits of Composting

  • Improves your soil and plants growing in it
  • Returns organic matter to the soil in a useable form
  • Breaks up heavy, clay soils
  • Add nutrients
  • Composting reduces the volume of degradable materials by 70-80%

It's the most practical and convenient way to handle your yard wastes.  It's easier and cheaper than bagging wastes and hauling them to the street.

How to Compost

  1. Layer equal amounts of "brown" waste (shredded leaves, straw, uncolored paper products - shredded newspaper is okay) then "green" waste (grass clippings, leaves, fruit, vegetable scraps, topsoil). 
  2. Add water and air.
  3. Keep the pile moist - not wet - in a compost bin that has slats for air circulation.
  4. Mix occasionally by turning the pile with a pitchfork, shovel, or aerating tool to speed up the process.
  5. You'll create a dark and crumbly humus, with no resemblance to the contents.
  6.  If the compost begins to have an unpleasant odor, let it dry or mix it more often.

Here are some examples of materials to:

2-Incude
3-DoNotInclude
4-QuickTips

Refuse, Recycling and Yard Trim

Address:
145 Gorman Street
Annapolis, MD 21401		Phone: 410-263-7949
Emergency Phone: 410-224-3140
Fax: 410-263-3322
Email: pubworks@annapolis.gov		Hours:
Monday - Friday
(8:30 am -4:30 pm)
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