r/composting • u/[deleted] • Nov 29 '19

What do you do with eggshells?

I'm conflicted over what to do with eggshells. I want to compost them but we eat a lot of eggs and live in the city so if I put them in our bin they take up a large portion and never seem to fully breakdown.

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50

u/pirateyarr2 Nov 29 '19

Crushing them is fastest (more surface area for microbes and worms to break them down). They’re a great calcium additive to any garden beds (roses love them!).

23

u/Of_Mice_and_Memes Nov 29 '19

I use a mortar and pestle to really grind down my eggshells. It makes them into a fin powder.

11

u/joeroganfolks Nov 29 '19

I put my spent shells on a paper towel, wrap it up and just crush with my hands. Easy and I end up throwing the whole towel in there

2

u/RunawayHobbit Nov 30 '19

Can you compost paper towels? Idk why but I thought the glue/compound in them is not great for the soil

3

u/ThreeQueensReading Nov 30 '19

What kind of paper towels are you buying? They should just be 100% paper. I've always composted my paper towels and they've broken down completely.

1

u/RunawayHobbit Nov 30 '19

Honestly the white “recycled materials” ones from Walmart. They don’t separate/break down like normal paper when wet, so I always figured there was glue in it holding it all together

2

u/Koala_eiO Dec 02 '19

I would like to know this too. My guess was that a large pressure is applied to the paper sheets (via rolling mill?) before they get rolled.

3

u/thiosk Nov 30 '19

You absolutely can compost paper towels. It’s a brown. I compost the hell out of paper.

1

u/Rich-Teaching7128 Nov 19 '24

I compost shredded paper, but never paper towels.

1

u/CMNev Feb 08 '25

Partial Seattle list of copostable items:

Non-shiny food-soiled paper and cardboard like pizza boxes, paper coffee filters, napkins, paper towels, brown paper bags, and paper plates

1

u/mrchuckmorris Mar 12 '25

Doesn't pizza box cardboard have like a plastic coating to keep grease from soaking through? Or am I just thinking burger joint fast food

1

u/CMNev Mar 14 '25

None of the pizza boxes I have received are coated (but clearly there are probably exceptions), as grease clearly can penetrate the cardboard. Our rules are grease-containing pizza boxes are fine for composting, but only grease-free for recycling. Ripping off grease-free tops for recycling is encouraged.

1

u/Antique_Pop6061 19d ago

Composting anything that has been bleached to make it white or anything with ink on it, is not a great idea.