Composting can make even those spoilt things useful that you would normally throw away. Learn here whether you can compost hard-boiled eggs.
Eggs are quite a versatile kitchen product that is used in a variety of dishes. So, you would obviously throw away eggshells often after cooking meals like breakfast or after making desserts. However, instead of trash, one environmentally efficient way to recycle waste products such as eggshells is by composting.
But you could sometimes be in a situation where you don’t use food products like cooked eggs. While some food items could go in the compost pile and be used as fertilizer, cooked or hard-boiled eggs are a different matter. Keep reading to find out more about whether and how you can compost hard-boiled eggs.
What is Composting?
Before we talk about whether you can add hard-boiled eggs to your compost pile, let’s talk more about what composting actually is. Composting, basically, is your formula to turn food and yard scraps into fertilizer. When you start building a compost pile, you are creating a safe environment for bacteria, fungi, and other such organisms to break down waste into a useful form.
In nature, there are two types of decomposition- anaerobic- where organisms breaking down waste don’t need oxygen to survive, and aerobic- where the organisms breaking down waste need free-flowing oxygen. The former releases biogas, which is half carbon dioxide and half methane, both of which are not environment-friendly. But the latter doesn’t release bio gas, and it is aerobic decomposition that generally takes place in compost piles, making it better for the environment.
Can you compost hard-boiled eggs?
Now that we have cleared the definition and meaning of composting, we have come to the topic of which types of waste can be added to a compost pile. First and foremost, it would be a bad idea to add any animal waste such as meat, bones, grease, dairy products, or whole eggs to your compost. This list includes hard-boiled eggs, too. The reason behind this is that this waste starts creating odors and attracting vermin like rats or flies to your compost pile instead of getting decomposed. This, in turn, occurs because the heat of boiling eggs removes the protective membrane from them and allows microorganisms to enter the eggs.
Hence, you should instead compost eggshells and try to consume hard-boiled eggs within a week of cooking them. Adding eggshells to your compost pile can have amazing benefits as they contain nutrients like calcium, which is important for plants. But before you go ahead and compost your eggshells, there are a few things you must do.
How to compost eggshells?
As you know, eggshells have a high content of calcium alongside calcium carbonate, which protects the content inside the eggs. This tough exterior means eggshells take a little while to break down. This process is important for eggshells to release nutrients into the soil.
To make the most out of adding eggshells to your compost pile, you must remember to grind them up as finely as possible. Before that, you can either air-dry the shells or put them into a warm oven, which helps make them easier to crush. To crush the eggshells into a fine powder, you could also use a coffee grinder. Finally, you will be ready to add your eggshells to the compost pile.
