Cardboard Composting

Compost piles

Compost happens. That’s the beauty of the wonderful way nature disposes of its dead, be it leaf, animal, the old oak tree in your front yard or you and I. It’s the best model for “zero waste” disposal, period. In nature, nothing goes to waste. It’s a perfect circle of life. The death of a mammal in the woods quickly feeds other scavenger creatures, followed by insects, fungi and bacteria, leaving the byproducts of, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, which in turn feed the soil that feeds the new plant and animal life. And all this is done in a relative nanosecond in comparison to diapers, plastic, nuclear waste and other byproducts of human existence.

As a business we strive to mimic nature. Our circle of life model started out simply enough. It included the basic composting of food scraps from our food processing kitchen and organic waste from the farm. When finished it was then returned to our soil where it nurtured the plants that were put back into our organic food products. However, some years ago, as we were assessing our environmental impact with regards to our waste stream when we had a realization. Even though we were recycling all our cardboard waste (about 5 tons/year at that time) it was not very resource efficient. Since our county does not offer recycling for businesses we hauled our cardboard to a transfer facility. That included a fifty mile round trip and a fee of $50.00 per ton to have it recycled. Considering the fuel consumed, miles driven and wear and tear on our vehicle a more sustainable path was sought.

Turning the steaming piles

Our current cardboard composting system started with my experiments in vermiculture and later hot composting. It has now evolved into a three-year static or passive pile process that is currently decomposing 7 tons of cardboard per year. This process was chosen for its ease of operation as well as to maintain compliance with USDA Organic standards. Because we are on a farm we have both time and space. Cardboard is layered like a giant lasagna casserole. Layers contain our food waste, leaves and other organic matter from our farm and horse manure from a nearby stable. It’s a three year process where by the we layer for an entire year with minimal turning. In the fall I roll that pile about 10 feet away and start a new one in the same spot. What we end up with is a pile of completed material that is three years old, a two year old pile that is nearly completed, the previous year’s pile and the current pile we are always adding to.

Finished piles make good playgrounds....

While passive composting it technically not hot, ours does get very hot as you can see from the steam rising out of the piles. That’s thanks to a discovery we made. Most will advise you to shred your cardboard. We discovered that was very expensive and labor intensive. So the lasangna process works well I suspect because layering assures good mixing of the carbon rich cardboard, the nitrogren rich manure and food scraps. Add the oxygen trapped in the corrugated cardboard you have all the right ingredients for a hot and healthy compost pile. Static pile processing is really simple if you have the time and space. Yes it takes a one to three year investment to get finished product, but once you’re there, you have a fresh batch every year. We also get lots of cool pumpkins and tomato volunteers growing out of our piles when we resist the temptation to turn them in.

Please click on "Comment" below and let me know what you think.

Further Information:

USDA Organic Definition of Compost:

"Compost: Organic matter of plant and/or animal origin managed to promote aerobic decomposition and an increase in temperature to enhance its physical and nutritive properties as a soil amendment while minimizing pathogenic organisms."

Comments:

Showing comments 1 to 10 of 22 | Next | Last

Timothy
Posts: 3

Waxed Cardboard
Comment #22 on Monday, April 18, 2011 at 07:42 AM

Terry:
I do not compost waxed cardboard. I don't accumulate that much, however, I've been told that not only will it not break down, it is normally a petroleum based product and therefore toxic. I have not done the research because I just don't get that much. I also avoid colored or heavily printed cardboard as well.

Terry
Posts: 21

cardboard composting
Comment #21 on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 07:04 PM

Are you composting waxed cardboard too? We are a farm with a farm store so order lots of stuff from other farms that usually comes in waxed cardboard. We are are sometimes able to reuse but most just goes to the landfill. I just hate hauling it all to the landfill but I see no reason why it wouldn't compost too, just more slowly. Layering it with other hot stuff, compost, even sprinkle good soil between layers, all sorts of other compostable materials from the farm should help it compost.

Charlie Krumholz
Posts: 21

commercial composting of cardboard
Comment #20 on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 09:49 AM

Great Job! What would it take to compost a large amount of cardboard each year...say 30 tons? It seems like this might be a good business to start. It would take a lot of room, horse manure, or other waste stream and time...anything else?

Timothy
Posts: 3

Subodh (Response)
Comment #19 on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 06:08 AM

Subodh:
I don't have any systems in place. I have space and time so I simply let nature run it's course. If course cardboard alone doesn't compost very fast. My piles heat up a lost fast because I'm able to introduce hot material such as food waste from our processing facility and horse manure from a nearby farm. I don't turn them much either...only a few times a year. If I turned them more, they would break down much faster. I wish you well with this project.

Subodh Regmi
Posts: 21

cardboard compostiung is best idea
Comment #18 on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 02:25 AM

Cardboard composting is a better way for solid waste management. I am a worker for Ghorahi municipality office in Nepal south Asia. We've done little practice for the management of municipal waste. But we aren't satisfy. I want to apply this cardboard technic to our community in this municipality. Do you have any program for technical assist to under developed country in third world.

Timothy
Posts: 3

OMRI
Comment #17 on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 06:35 AM

Michael:
I'm not certified by OMRI, however, my organic certifier, OCIA inspects our process annually. I'm not familiar with OMRI standards, but if we were to ever sell our compost, it may be worth looking at. Currently it is all used on site.

Michael
Posts: 21

organic certification
Comment #16 on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 08:30 PM

Hi there

I wonder if your vermicomposting process is organic certified according to OMRI standards.

Regards
Michael

suraj Rajbhandari
Posts: 21

cardboard composting
Comment #15 on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 05:22 AM

cardboard composting means aerobic decomposition of organic mattter inside the cardboard box not decomposing the cardbard itself.

Amanda
Posts: 21

I totally support your point of view!
Comment #14 on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 06:22 AM

I totally support your point of view! Keep it up that way!

ImmareeInwake
Posts: 21

Intro
Comment #13 on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 08:21 AM

Hi
I am a newbie here.
Glad to find this forum...as what I am looking for

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Photo Credits: All photos by Timothy Young