My husband and I agree on many important issues, but he is deeply, darkly suspicious of my BioBags.

We agree that composting is a win-win: good for our garden soil and its produce, good for the local landfill. And, if you play the Practically Green game, you get 50 points for composting. What’s not to like?

After all, the EPA estimates that food residuals account for 11.9 percent of the Municipal Solid Waste stream (or 29.2 million tons) and are the single largest component of MSW generated by weight. Staggering! Schools, conferences, prisons, and supermarkets are among the highest offenders. We don’t want to contribute our leavings to that disgraceful tally. But when Jack objected to my use of BioBags, an ingenious invention that keeps my sleek kitchen compost crock from becoming an oozing stinking slop pail on our kitchen counter, I had to investigate.

Compost crock with BioBag

Gorgeous clean compost crock

I called the customer service at Gardener’s Supply, where I purchased the Bio Bags. In seconds I was on the phone with Janet. I explained the situation as best I could:

My job is to collect the kitchen scraps; Jack’s job is to take them outside to the compost bin. I like to use bio bags, because they cut down on smell and mess. He thinks an unlined container is better. He says his mom never used a bag; he says the bags don’t break down; blah blah; he says the ones he threw into the compost bin five months ago are still sitting there. Shouldn’t they have decomposed by now, he asks me. And, even if they did decompose, Janet, he suspects these bags might be made of plastic that’s harmful to our soil and thus to our future vegetable garden and us. Is it? Could he be right? He thinks we should stop using the bags and go back to the old way: throw scraps into the compost crock and empty it when it’s full, smelly, and/or breeding fruit-flies.

“I really don’t want to go back to the old way, Janet. Can you please settle this?”

“I really don’t want to get in the middle of it,” she replied calmly, but I’ll try to help.”

I could hear gentle tapping on her keyboard at the other end of the phone: “Yes, as I thought: the bags are made of 100% biodegradable cornstarch. They’re totally fine for your garden. But the bags are apparently not breaking down fast enough. You may need to consider the heat in your compost. The more heat and moisture you have in the compost bin, the sooner the bag will break away,” she said.

“Heat?”

“What’s your mix of browns and greens?”  she asked me.

“Huh?”

Janet directed me to “All About Composting,” a superb rundown of how compost happens, including a primer on browns and greens.

From How Compost Happens:

Organic matter is transformed into compost through the work of microorganisms, soil fauna, enzymes and fungi. When making compost, your job is to provide the best possible environment for these beneficial organisms to do their work. If you do so, the decomposition process works very rapidly—sometimes in as little as two weeks! If you don’t provide the optimum environment, decomposition will still happen, but it may take from several months to several years. The trick to making an abundance of compost in a short time is to balance the following four things:

Carbon. Carbon-rich materials are the energy food for microorganisms. You can identify high-carbon plant materials because they are dry, tough, or fibrous, and tan or brown in color. Examples are dry leaves, straw, rotted hay, sawdust, shredded paper, and cornstalks.

Nitrogen. High-nitrogen materials provide the protein-rich components that microorganisms require to grow and multiply. Freshly pulled weeds, fresh grass clippings, over-ripe fruits and vegetables, kitchen scraps and other moist green matter are the sorts of nitrogen-rich materials you’ll probably have on hand. Other high-protein organic matter includes kelp meal, seaweed, manure and animal by-products like blood or bone meal.

Water. Moisture is very important for the composting process. But too much moisture will drown the microorganisms, and too little will dehydrate them. A general rule of thumb is to keep the material in your compost pile as moist as a well-wrung sponge. If you need to add water (unchlorinated is best), insert your garden hose into the middle of the pile in several places, or sprinkle the pile with water next time you turn it. Using an enclosed container or covering your pile with a tarp will make it easier to maintain the right moisture level.

Oxygen. To do their work most efficiently, microorganisms require a lot of oxygen. When your pile is first assembled, there will probably be plenty of air between the layers of materials. But as the microorganisms begin to work, they will start consuming oxygen. Unless you turn or in some way aerate your compost pile, they will run out of oxygen and become sluggish.

Bottom line: Jack and I will be tending our compost better now. Best of all, the bio bags are safe for the time-being.

The best source of information about compost? Easy: any active gardener will have strong opinions on the subject. You can get major points for composting at Practically Green. And, you might want to curl up with one of these books. Especially, this little brief from one of our favorite gardeners, Eliot Coleman.

Let it Rot! Storey Publishing

Starter Vegetable Gardens has lots of compost info