Thursday, November 20, 2014

Top Ten Turkey Day Tips

Turkey Day is on its way (or Tofurkey Day if that’s how you roll) and all I can think about is food. Warm fresh dinner rolls, stuffing (my fav), and pumpkin pie (my other fav). Here is a list of the top ten tips for composting on the most food-centric holiday of the year.

10. Plan  Buy only the amount of food you need to eliminate waste in the first place.

 
9. Prep  Do most of your composting during food prep. All those potato peels, green bean stems, and egg shells are great material for compost. Use an extra-large bowl to collect all your food scraps.

 
8. Green Beans — Compost any leftover vegetable if it is not too covered in cheese or cream.

 
7. Potatoes — Can also go in the compost if they are not overly buttered up or covered in cheese. (If you have leftover cheesy potatoes- can I stop by your house on Thanksgiving?).
 

 

5. Leftover wine or beer — YES and YES.
 

4. Decorations — Do you have any adorable little pumpkins or festive gourds decorating your table? Any flowers, gourds and the like would be compostable. Leave out the tiny plastic pilgrims.

 
3. Turkey — NO. No giblets, gravy, meat or bones. No part of your turkey should be composted (unless it’s a Tofurkey!)

 
2. Pie — NO. Leftover pie?! There’s never been much leftover pie at my Thanksgiving dinners. But if there is at yours, it should not go in your compost bin. Too many eggs, butter and other (delicious) pie ingredients.
 
1. Give Away — Packaging up leftovers to send home with your guests is far better than composting. I recommend asking guests to bring their own containers or send leftovers home with guests in clean butter tubs or old take out containers.
 
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

 

 

3 comments:

  1. Isn't excess salt something one would want to avoid in their compost?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great point, Matthew, excessive salt could create an unhealthy environment for the microorganisms you want to keep.

      Delete
  2. One of the bonuses of being vegan - everything is compostable!

    ReplyDelete