Composting can greatly reduce the amount of waste your household generates and can produce a great, natural fertilizer as well.

You can either get a composter, build a box for it, or just designate a corner of the yard for waste. There are advantages of some systems over others that we will go into more detail discussing next time we update this guide.

This is an important step to keep your kitchen from smelling and making it so you don't have to walk outside every time you want to compost something. You should probably empty it every day though so it doesn't start smelling.

No meat, dairy, or eggs, but any other organic waste mixed with yard waste. You need to have a good mix of "greens" (things with high nitrogen content, such as food waste and grass clippings) and "browns" (things with high carbon content, such as leaves, paper products, or sawdust).

You need to have a good mix of greens and browns, as mentioned above. It's usually best to add food scraps as you acquire them, and then mix in as many browns as needed. You want about one part greens to one or two part browns, although it's not an exact science. If it starts smelling, add more browns.

Turn the pile once every week or so to mix everything up. This is a bit of an optional step, as some prefer "cold" compost, which takes longer to finish, but requires less maintenance and may produce a slightly healthier fertilizer. "Hot" compost requires a bit more attention to your greens and browns ratio, but finishes faster and kills weed seeds and diseased plants that may have been thrown in. Basically, the more you turn it, the faster the compost will finish.

It should be done in a few weeks to a year, depending on how often you turned it. Basically, go with it being done as the initial components are unrecognizable. Add the compost to gardens or share with the neighbors.