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Can You Compost Egg Shells?

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What You'll Learn

Egg shells are a great addition to your compost.  When wondering – can you compost egg shells – the answer is a resounding yes.  They add calcium to your compost, which is great for your plants. 

How to Compost Egg Shells

First, you can just toss those shells right into your compost. You don’t have to do anything.

To help the process, you might want to consider breaking them up.  This speeds up the composting process. 

Additionally, you might want to consider washing them before you toss them in the compost.  This helps to remove any contaminants and reduces the minimal risk of adding microbes to your compost. There is a slight risk of salmonella from the unwashed egg shells. The industry works hard to keep this risk to a minimum, but it does exist.

Washing the egg shells also keeps the risks of pests down.

Egg shells are one of the easier and more effective additions to your compost.

One you’re done with the eggs, don’t forget to consider the egg carton and whether you can compost that.

Things to Avoid When You Compost Egg Shells

You want to avoid adding rotten eggs.  They would decompose, but they will attract rats and other pests; plus, they stink.  One of the things we want to avoid by composting well is the smell.  Done right, compost should not stink.