Our guide to easy composting using paper bags!

Composting is an excellent way to reduce waste and improve the health of your flowers or vegetable garden. If you don’t want the chore of composting with a large compost pile, or simply don’t have the space, you can still easily reap the benefits of composting with some help from a paper bag, and some support from hello bag.

Here’s our suggested method:

Take a paper bag (perhaps one you brought back from the grocery store) along with you when you do your weeding, deadheading and other garden chores. Drop the weeds and other yard waste into the bag.

*pro tip: using the hellobag frame will help keep your bag from toppling over and help you to maximize the space of the bag

When the bag is full, dig a hole in your garden large enough for the bag and drop it right in. Remove the hello bag frame and the waste and bag will turn into compost right on the spot over time and feed your plant.

You can do the same thing with kitchen waste.  Place it in a paper bag. Dig the hole and plant it in your garden bed.  Your plants will love you for it.

Concerned that composting food scraps may create an undesirable smell? Adding paper bags to your compost can actually help eliminate odor! The right mix of brown and green in your compost bin is the trick to sweet smelling success.  There’s an easy, color-coded formula to make sure this happens:

Add two or three parts carbon-heavy “browns” for every one part nitrogen-centric “greens.“ The “browns” include shredded paper, dead leaves, and food-soiled paper napkins. For “greens,“ toss in fruit and vegetable bits, breads and grains, coffee grounds and filters, and grass clippings.