The word composting might conjure up images of leftover salad rotting in a pile near a misguided neighbor's back door. But composting doesn't require nose plugs and Birkenstocks. You can even do it without getting dirt on your just-washed chinos. Take Anna Jardine. A Manhattan apartment dweller, she composts by simply collecting her orange peels and carrot ends in a plastic bag that she puts in the freezer to keep it from smelling. When the bag is full, she takes it to her local greenmarket. She's been doing this for more than five years because, as she puts it, she just "got tired of throwing stuff into the trash."

Such compostable "stuff" makes up almost 25 percent of the waste we create each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That's 61.3 million tons of waste that is supremely recyclable, and communities across the country are figuring out that composting is a cost-effective and environmentally effective way to take care of organic trash. In fact, many cities have regular pickups or local collection points. And these community composting programs are a great success story, with over 60 percent of our yard waste being recycled today, up from 12 percent in 1990. Food scraps are the next frontier.

Like Jardine, you probably already recycle your paper, metal, and plastics. Composting is recycling, too: Grass clippings, fallen leaves, and food scraps that don't go into the trash can become nature's treasure in the form of a rich concoction that goes in your garden, in your flower pots, or in your local park. And nature itself does most of the work. (See the last page for a composting checklist.)

If you've ever noticed an old leaf, dried and looking half-eaten, then you've seen composting at work. As that leaf decays, nutrients are put back into the ground. With some low-maintenance management, the process goes faster and makes a more nutritionally balanced sort of dietary supplement for plants.

Scope of Composting

Composting can refer to many different activities, from the curbside collection of autumn leaves and Christmas trees to putting potato peels and onion skins in a container in the garden. You can hand off the ingredients to a greenmarket the way Jardine does, or, if you have a yard or garden, you might want to make the compost yourself.

To do so, you first need something in which to collect your food scraps. This can be a bucket or pail that sits under your sink or even on your countertop (there are some nice-looking designs available). John Welch, a composting veteran of eight years who lives in Brooklyn, NY, uses a plastic milk jug with the top cut off, because it has a handle and can be recycled when it gets dirty or worn.

Housing Your Compost

Next, you'll need a bin to house your compost. Bins come in various sizes, shapes, and colors, but be prepared: None of them look like they belong in a Pottery Barn catalog. They're all pretty utilitarian. For indoor use, you'll want a closed container. For outdoors, you'll need a square patch of dirt or grass at least 3 feet on each side to set your bin on, since the bottoms are partially open to provide drainage and to allow bugs to come in and help. When you're ready to shop, an online search for composting supplies is a good place to start. Also, note that many communities offer bins at a discount as part of their recycling programs.

You might also want a tool to turn your compost. These look like sticks with a propeller on the end. You insert it into the pile and pull it out a few times so that everything gets moved around, air gets into the pile, and the ingredients get to know one another better. If you want to get really serious, there are other accessories, such as thermometers and additives, but they're optional.

Once everything is ready, you can start stocking your bin. As you do, you'll need to balance carbon-rich "brown" matter with nitrogen-rich "green" stuff. Brown ingredients include such things as leaves, wood chips, sawdust, torn-up cardboard, and newsprint (with soy-based inks only). Green items include fruits, vegetables, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters, and plant and grass trimmings. (Never add animal or high-fat products to the mix.) You should layer the two types of ingredients as you go, with browns making up the heavier layers.

Once the layers are blended, nature goes to work, cooking the mix with the help of bacteria and insects. The pile will actually get hot-the temperature signals how smoothly the process is going. The compost gourmet will tend to his or her pile like a Michelin-starred chef, learning when to add more green, when to toss in more brown, and mixing it as needed. With the right conditions, an avid composter can produce a finished load in as little as four weeks.

For the rest of us, composting is a leisurely sport, and we might worry about odor and bugs more than the end result. Julie Triedman, who lives in Brooklyn, makes sure to add a layer of browns for each layer of greens, since it keeps her bin from smelling. Welch himself got started when a friend gave him a bin that he describes as "a garbage can you can rotate." He's still using that bin and has learned that while he doesn't have to mix it every day, regular turning keeps the process on track and the flies away. He says the neighbors are quick to complain when the bamboo in his "postage-stamp-size garden" gets too tall, but they don't even notice the bin.

One indoor alternative to traditional composting involves the use of worms. You really don't have to live on a commune to try vermicomposting, the scientific term for using worms to eat up your food scraps and make castings (i.e., worm poop). These castings-and the liquid produced by the worms as they eat your leftovers-are great for soil and plants.

If you decide to use worms, you'll need a worm box-basically, a little worm farm. While you might think worms belong on the end of a fishhook, they can actually be helpful housemates. You'll need a container about the size of a plastic storage bin for sweaters. You'll also need bedding-a base layer of shredded paper or cardboard that's been soaked in water. And, of course, you'll need worms, which you can order online. The worms are very quiet and require little work besides adding food scraps and collecting the castings.

Whether you compost with worms or with a bin full of browns and greens, you'll probably find that there's an ebb and flow to your composting activities. Summer seems to inspire garden-related puttering, which includes giving more attention to the compost pile. In Newton, MA, Tom Hoffmann is very practical about the seasons. "We have a bin out back, which we tend to put more stuff in during the warmer months-just so we don't have to get cold and/or wet." The point is not to stress about your spinach stems but to throw less into the garbage. "It just feels right not to be sending away perfectly good stuff to the dump or the ocean," Hoffmann says.

Indeed, whatever works in your home can quickly become routine. As Welch puts it, "Composting was a project but now is just part of the way I live."

• Fruit and vegetable scraps, skins, peels, and rinds
• Tea bags and coffee grounds (herbal, decaf, and regular) and filters
• Plant trimmings, cuttings, and dying cut flowers (but not if they are diseased)
• Seaweed (old veggie sushi you forgot in the fridge)
• Grains (oatmeal, rice, pasta without sauce)
• Grass clippings

• Fallen leaves (but not those of the black walnut tree)
• Sawdust and wood chips
• Shredded newsprint and corrugated cardboard (printed with soy-based inks only)

What stays out

• Meat and animal products
• Dairy products
• Egg yolks and whites (eggshells are OK, but they take a while to break down)
• High-fat foods such as salad dressing and peanut butter

• A pail, bucket, or other container to collect food scraps in the kitchen. Brooklyn composter John Welch uses a gallon milk container with the top cut off because it has a handle and can be recycled when it gets old and worn. Manhattanite Anna Jardine uses a plastic bag she keeps in her freezer so that things don't start to smell between her trips to the community garden or farmers market.
• A bin to put your compost in. These come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, but at a minimum you'll want a 3-foot-by-3-foot space atop a patch of dirt for an outdoor bin. Most outdoor bins have openings at the bottom to provide proper drainage and to allow worms and helpful insects to get inside. Some bins rotate or come in sections that can be moved. There are also bins for indoor use. These are usually designed to prevent or contain any odors.
• A turning tool-a stick with something resembling a propeller on the end. When you stick it into the pile and pull it out a few times, it moves everything around, introducing air into the pile and mixing the greens and browns together.
• Many communities with composting or yard waste collection programs offer bins and tools at a discount to residents. Check your city's website or call your local sanitation department.

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