This is the final installment of a three-part interview with Heather Heck of Portland, Oregon, seen here with my brother, her father, last June. Heather shares everyday steps to becoming more eco-conscious.

SG: Most of my readers don’t do the compost thing. Why should they start? And how? When is it ripe? How do you use it? What benefit comes from making compost rather than garbage?

HH: Between our composting and recycling of paper, our household of two adults, one dog and one cat generates one kitchen-sized bag of garbage per week, sometimes less. And since we don’t put food waste in our trash, we don’t have to take it out as often because it doesn’t stink. We keep a small bin with a sealing* lid next to our garbage can. We throw our food scraps into the bin and empty it once or twice a week.

I’m what you would call a lazy composter. I bought a compost bin when we moved into our house three years ago. Since that time we have filled it up with food waste such as banana peals and egg shells; yard debris such as grass clippings, fallen leaves, dead plants and plant clippings; and, of course, dryer lint. There are great articles out there that will tell you how to build a three-step compost center, and the schedule in which to turn your compost, and on and on. We don’t bother with any of that. We don’t even turn our compost. While, being more devoted composters could result in a better product, we are happy simply generating less garbage.

The compost process is pretty simple. All of the matter basically cooks itself down to soil. This process doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. The end result is good rich compost/soil which you can spread in your garden in place of fertilizer.

This is a win-win-win situation! Less garbage, free fertilizer, earth-friendly!

*We formerly had a compost bin without a sealing lid under our sink. One night the bin was knocked over in a rush to grab paper towels and Windex. This wasn’t noticed until sometime later when the wet contents had emptied themselves and spread throughout the cabinet. Yucky! Get a lid that seals!