Can I put salt in the compost?
Asked by
occ (
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February 8th, 2010
I have a bag full of a few pounds of dry sea salt, which I used for curing black olives. The olives are done and I’m finished with the salt. I live in San Francisco, where we’re lucky enough to have curb-side compost pick up, so we don’t put food waste in the garbage. But wouldn’t it be bad for the compost/soil to add such an excessive amount of salt? Is it better to throw this in the garbage? Or will it not ruin the compost since the city is composting on such a massive scale?
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10 Answers
Why not dump it in the Bay? It’s already salt water.
It may not ruin the city’s compost because of scale, but it certainly won’t help. Just throw it away.
Second @Snarp‘s suggestion. Compost will likely eventually be used as a soil addition, and salt is a bad thing for soil, and I don’t think it will contribute anything positive for the compost in the way of nutrients…at least I can’t think of anything…
Send it to anyone in Connecticut. At this time of the year we can use it on sidewalks, roads, front steps, driveways… or at any time on baked potatoes.
@CyanoticWasp It made me think of the five bucks for 25 pounds of rock salt too, but what would it cost to ship a bag of salt to Connecticut? Way more than 5 bucks.
@Snarp but if the OP is paying, and really cares about the environment, then it doesn’t matter a damn to me how much it costs.
Shall I include my address in a PM?
We all need to be green. One World. Connecticut should actually lead the nation being they are the richest.
Salt is bad for soil.
You could throw up a posting for free salt on Craigslist or something like that. Someone out there might be interested—and that way it won’t go to waste.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Burn everything down and salt the land”? People do that to curse a place so nothing will grow there again. I don’t think you want it in compost, unless you’re giving it to those you defeat in war. ;)
You can’t put it in compost that will be used for growing plants. I was going to say save it and use it for salting your driveway in the winter but you probably don’t need to, in San Fransisco.
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