I moved a few weeks ago, and as I was cleaning out my drawers, I found a ton of corks. Not sure what I was saving them for, but after a little research, I realized they are totally compostable! Since cork is made of tree bark, it’s perfectly ok to throw it in your green bin (if you have one – man, I love San Francisco!) or compost pile. Pretty cool, right?

While you’re at it, check out this list 11 Unusual Things You Can Compost. While recycling is much better than throwing things in the garbage, most of what we recycle gets sent overseas. Composting your paper towels, egg cartons and cotton swabs is a great solution. If you don’t want to start your own compost pile (totally understandable!), check with your city to see if they have a municipal composting program, or contact your local officials and say you want one!

I heart wine.

Do you compost? Would you like to if you could? Do you have any questions about composting for my sister, a gardening/composting expert?

I buy two sizes – one for my trash can and one for compost, which I keep in the freezer to avoid fruit flies, and then bring over to my Dad’s house to put in the bin. I’m very lucky that San Francisco picks up compost in addition to recycling and trash! Though I would like to start doing my own real composting and plan to post about that soon. It looks like they also make dog waste bags, which is awesome! I know a lot of people who save their plastic bags from the grocery store for this task (though not here – they’ve been banned at major chains, yay!). So now you can bring your own super-cute reusable bag (like an Envirosax!) and save plastic all over the place.

According to their website, “BioBag retail products are available at most natural food stores across the country.” Yay! And yes, they are more expensive than regular trash bags, but I find it worth it. It’s all about priorities!