After writing in a previous post about commonly received items that do not belong in your compost buckets, here are 10 misunderstood and often asked about things we will accept for our compost piles:

Paper towels and tissues: Yes, if they do not contain bleach, grease, or aromatic/cleaning agents. They cannot be tossed into the recycling bin, but we can compost them.

Hair: High in nitrogen, toss in yours and your pets’ if they do not contain chemicals.

Finger and toe nails: Same with hair and made of keratin, they will decompose and not take up any space in your bucket and our compost piles.

Egg shells: Shells add calcium to the makeup of the compost to help plants build cell walls and grow more quickly, as well as fight bottom rot.

Wine corks: A source of carbon, they break down best when broken or cut up.

Cotton swabs and balls: If made of only cotton or cardboard and chemical free, they go in the bucket.

Tea bags without staples: Bags made of natural fibers and lack polypropylene (used to seal them) are acceptable, including the string and paper tag. You can rip open and pour the contents into your bucket if your tea bags do not meet these requirements, or to speed up their time to break down. But purchasing loose tea is more sustainable.

Newspaper: Yes, but only if you shred it or tear it up, and if it’s clean, please always recycle it instead. We can take it if it’s soiled with organic materials and you tear it to pieces.

Wooden chopsticks and toothpicks, bamboo skewers: Snap in half to save room in your bucket and to accelerate decomposition. Bonus points if you use delivery Chinese food chopsticks as tea stirrers and compost the paper wrapping.