100% Cotton? 100% Compost!

Soil your undies! (for science) 

Have you ever had an old piece of cotton clothing that you didn’t think you could donate? Too big of a stain? Too many rips? Composting that clothing could be an option for you!  

There is a misconception with compost that you can only add food scraps, but that is not the case. A good rule of thumb is “if it grows, it goes!” 

Three months ago, Hamilton County ReSource partnered with Hamilton County Conservation District and set out to show just how easy it can be to compost old cotton. We used an old baby onesie that was not donatable and added it to our compost pile.  

The key is to make sure you cut out any buttons, tags, or zippers. Once you have completed those steps, you can use a pair of scissors to cut the fabric into smaller pieces so that it will degrade quicker and easier. For this activity, undyed garments work the best because dye can be difficult to identify, but if you are confident that the clothing is not chemically dyed you can compost it. The goal is that the organisms in the compost will eat away at the cotton material and spread nutrients throughout the pile. Please note that if you are trying this in your backyard compost pile, you should limit the amount of cotton in the pile to maintain the balance of greens and browns. Cotton material should be considered a "brown"- a carbon-rich material that will need to be balanced with wet, nitrogen rich materials ("greens"). 

In the world of conservation, there is a challenge known as the “Soil Your Undies Challenge” where farmers, homeowners, and other groups check their soil health by planting a pair of 100% cotton underwear for a few months and then digging it up for results. This is a way to make checking your soil health fun and exciting. The more microbes there are in the soil, the more degraded your underwear will be, and the healthier the soil is. When digging up your results, you may find you are only left with an elastic waistband if you have healthy soil with lots of microbes. If you have used cotton clothing laying around, cotton that you cannot donate, or maybe you just want to test the health of your compost or soil, then you should soil your undies! (for science) 

We buried our 100% cotton onesie in April and will be digging it up this month! Stay tuned for a video on Hamilton County ReSource's Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube discussing the benefits of burying your cotton in your compost and testing your soil health.

Guest Blogger: Maiya Miller