On Composting

As folks who spend a lot of time cooking, we also spend a lot of time thinking about where our food comes from and where it ends up. We believe great cooking includes responsible handling of ingredients from start to finish and we love composting as a way to reduce food waste and connect our kitchens to a more sustainable food system. Composting can seem overwhelming, but we’re here to help break it down for you with some options that fit your lifestyle.

Why Composting Matters

1. Environmental Benefits: Reduces landfill waste and methane emissions, decreases carbon footprint, conserves water

2. Soil Benefits: Creates nutrient-rich soil, improves structure, increases beneficial organisms, suppresses plant diseases

3. Community Benefits: Builds local resilience and creates educational opportunities

Storage

We keep a bowl on the counter during food prep to pop in anything we can toss in the compost. This helps keep our food prep area nice and tidy while cooking and from there, the food scraps can either be tossed into a countertop compost collector or ziplock bag in the freezer for smell-free storage.

Kitchen Items Perfect for Composting

1. Vegetable and fruit peels, cores, and ends

2. Coffee grounds and paper filters

3. Tea bags and loose tea leaves

4. Eggshells (crushed for faster decomposition)

5. Herb stems and wilted greens

6. Stale breads and grains

7. Nut shells

8. Paper towels and napkins (unbleached)

Options for what to do with your food scraps:

1. Start a compost pile or bin in your yard

2. Maintain an under-sink worm bin or electric compost system

3. Find a community compost program that works for you: often urban centers will have compost/green waste pickup or community compost dropoff sites. If you live more rurally, you can sometimes find farms that accept community compost to add to their own compost systems.