Can meat products go in compost?

[baby_mouse]

I've started a little compost bin. So far it's mostly last year's leaf mold and bits of twig with a bit of sod thrown in for good measure (me figuring that sod will have plenty of juicy living things in it that'll get to work on the scraps). The slaters are having a feast! Which I assume is good. I've also started using it for kitchen waste like onion skins, tea-bags, egg-shells and vegetable peelings but I'm not sure about meat.

The bin has a fairly snug-fitting lid, so vermin won't be a problem, but are there any other reasons meat might be a bad idea?

[SHRED]

1. I've heard it's a big no no

I think it screws up the microbial action.

[glowing]

2. Salmonella..

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. It will smell

If it's not a large enough and hot enough system it will stink like mad.

[PDJane]

4. NOT

a good plan. Truly.

Anywhere you spread that compost will manage to attract critters too. Do not compost fat or meat.

[baby_mouse]

5. Maybe I'll just cut down on meat consumption, then.

I don't eat a huge amount anyway, but I'm becoming increasingly aware of my impact.

Thanks for insight and sensible advice!

[Warpy]

6. No, nyet, absolutely not!

Even if it's in a closed bin that rodents can't access (and yes, they'll gnaw if they smell spoilt meat and wreck the bin), meat will grow some very nasty pathogens that can make you very sick.

Some localities even have laws against doing it.

[baby_mouse]

9. Wow! Okay. Good thing I asked. I may just cut down on meat, then.

I'm starting to get very conscious of the amount of food I waste, which isn't much but I'd rather it was smaller... If I can compost it I don't feel so bad.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. The meat will just rot and stink...

although a little bit probably won't screw up the compost too much. Dead animals in the forest are eaten by birds, animals, and bugs that won't be in the compost pile.

Bones might be OK, but I usually toss them in the fireplace.

[baby_mouse]

12. Right you are. I wondered how it fitted into the ecosystem.

And I guess I wouldn't want those sorts of bugs in the compost pile anyhow?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. It will stink, rot, and possibly ruin the rest of the compost.

And there's no container on earth other than a 10-ton safe that will keep out raccoons.

[baby_mouse]

10. Would the Atlantic Ocean suffice? :)

The bin's steel.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Raccoons have agile little hands. They can open things; they don't have to gnaw through them.

Never underestimate a raccoon.

[baby_mouse]

13. I have no doubt you are correct.

But, unless their agile hands are able to build boats or fly planes, I'm unlikely to ever have any problems from raccoons. :D

[baby_mouse]

14. Although ACTUALLY, having said that...

There are foxes all over the place around here and knocking the bin over would be no problem for them. It's not a very big bin.

[bettyellen]

15. you know what's great in compost? crushed drieed cereal and or bits of bread...

great to add in when the pile is too wet.
no fat or meat.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Ha. Don't kid yourself.

Raccoons are native to North America, and they're all over the place here (like on my bird feeder and sitting on my porch roof), but you've got them too. They aren't common where you are, but eventually one will certainly find YOUR compost...

[sarge43]

23. Roving bands which run the freeways on Harleys late at night looking

for compost piles, garbage cans (the garbage can hasn't been made that a raccoon can't pop open), bird feeders and, if you forget to latch the back door, your refrigerator.

[Richard Steele]

32. That's what they WANT you to think.

And as soon as you've let your guard down,
they put the theme from "Jaws" on their
tiny raccoon iPods, and:



http://rdr.zazzle.com/img/imt-prd/pd-239596103766416932/isz-m/tl-Swimming+Raccoon.jpg

[NV Whino]

27. I wouldn't even count that out

Damned little bandits.

[sarge43]

17. No

The fat and protein just doesn't break down like vegetable matter; it rots and spoils the rest. I wouldn't use egg shells. They will compost, but takes forever. Break them into tiny pieces and put them out for the birds, especially in the spring when they need the calcium.

If you really get into this and money allows, a shredder is a bonus. The smaller the pieces, the quicker they break down. And yet another hint, if you want earth worms working the compost, don't throw in any onion or garlic. They don't like it and won't hang around.

[patrice]

18. No. nt

[leftchick]

19. no they should not

here is a good guide

http://www.compostguide.com/

[sam sarrha]

20. real composting maintains a moisture level and air.. it is turned as the temp goes down, takes

practace.. and is an art form to do properly, you can do it in the absence of air.. in plastic bags.. it need water and more time, tie the tops so you can check and see if it needs water or more dry material from time to time, or it will just stay trash. too much water it is stinking slime, it is best to err on the side of dry till you get the hang of it..

[Trillo]

30. I read once that anerobic composting,

such as that in a sealed plastic bag, creates acidic or low pH compost as a byproduct of anaerobic microorganisms. The claim was that aerobic composting and microorganisms tended towards pH neutral compost.

While this should be easy to test, I have never done so. Might make a good science project for school....

If it's true, there are interesting possibilities since plants are pH sensitive and soils often need pH adjustments.

[Ikonoklast]

21. Absolutely!

How do you think they make SPAM?

Nothing but the finest pig snouts and rancid fat money can buy.

Yummy.

[Totally Committed]

22. No! --- No meat!!!

It's a huge no-no.

Vegetable waste only!

TC

[Trillo]

24. Always read the answer is "No" to that question,

but there seem to be a lot of different reasons why, so I suspect deception of some kind. There are probably good microbial reasons not to do so.

Back in the days when they buried people in the ground, I've read it was said that a body should be buried deeply, something around 6 feet or more. Supposedly this was so carnivores wouldn't dig up the body, but perhaps there is another reason.

In grade school I was taught that Indians used to bury a fish under their planted seed corn plants, this was said to improve the growth of the plant. I tested it once with a large, fresh albacore head I acquired when I was a kid -- every year for the next 12 years or so the grass grew much taller in that small 1 foot square area during the vegetative flush of spring.

So, following conventional disseminated knowledge, meat should not be put in a compost pile that is worked (and often spread on the top of the ground when fully black), but precisely why seems obscure and esoteric. However, meat buried deeply in the ground seems to be a historical practice; when the buried meat is a fish or fish part, it seems to aid plant growth.

[sarge43]

26. Animal remains work, in certain cases, as fertilizer which fish head do.

Compost isn't exactly fertilizer although it does enrich established soil. Composting is a quick way to make more soil which is 99% composted vegetable matter. In a natural cycle animal remains seldom stay around long enough to become compost. They usually quickly gobbled up by everything from bacteria to the janitor crew, like vultures.

Another reason to carefully dispose of animal remains: Rotting meat is an excellent disease vector.

[Canuckistanian]

25. No meat OR cooked vegetables

Only raw vegetable scraps only, so I've heard.

I don't know why cooked veggies would be bad, but that's what I've always been told.

[BoneDaddy]

28. Nope

it rots attracts vermin and will get you sick

[BlooInBloo]

29. According to the world's most obvious google search you can, but it will stink...

... and take longer.

[Trillo]

33. Thanks! The document I found even has references!

From the "Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing Strategic Initiative Group at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS)", emphasis added:

Nitrogen: Available nitrogen, in the form of organic compounds in the pile material or inorganic ions in water, is often a limiting factor in vegetable composting. (Nitrogen in the air is too inert for most organisms to use.) Meat has a relatively high nitrogen content, so this factor is not likely to be in short supply, except possibly toward the end of the composting cycle. The ample amount of nitrogen in a pile with a lot of meat has a down side -- incomplete breakdown can lead to the production of ammonia and related compounds, which cause odors and can leach into groundwater. With sufficient bulking material and air, the nitrogen can instead be converted primarily into the atmospheric gas form, which will not cause problems.
http://ecm.ncms.org/ERI/Meat/howtocompost.htm

It's fairly well known that a primary classification of most compost materials is their carbon:nitrogen ratio. With high carbon materials, such as branch wood and wood chips, breakdown takes longer, and can be accelerated by the addition of nitrogen. In the conventional organic tradition, this is often accomplished with grass cuttings, which have a low C/N, as well as manures.

[Vinca]

31. Meat's a no no and I wouldn't put any dairy products in either.

It does need some moisture, though. I made a jumbo composting operation out of wooden skids that you get free from the lumber yard. I screwed them together to make a 3 space bin (imagine looking down on it - it looks like an "E"). After the stuff in the first bin works for a few weeks I turn it over and dump it into the next bin and start putting fresh stuff in the first bin, then after it works some more, everything goes to the next bin. I don't cover it and the first bin is the local McDonald's for the neighborhood wildlife. The other day I found bear doodoo near the garden.