How to Compost Bio-Solids
- 1). Pile bio-solids into a windrow, or an elongated pile that is 3 to 5 feet wide and about 3 feet high, along with an equal measure of wood chips and dead leaves. Bio-solids are a nitrogen-filled compost material. Dead leaves and wood chips are a carbon-filled compost material. Compost requires a balance of the two ingredients to decompose quickly without stinking.
- 2). Soak the windrows so that they are uniformly as damp throughout as a wrung-out sponge. To ensure that the center of the windrows becomes damp, soak the compost each time you add a new layer to the pile.
- 3). Test the compost with a thermometer that contains a probe. The center of the compost pile should heat to between 120 degrees and 160 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, harmful microbes will be killed and the compost items at the center of the windrow will crumble into rich black loam.
- 4). Rake the windrows apart and reassemble them to stir and aerate the piles any time the internal temperature of the compost drops below 120 degrees. Make sure that the outer layers of material are shifted into the center of the pile and the center of the pile is shifted outward.
- 5). Sift the windrows whenever they are mostly decomposed. Separate out any large chunks of uncomposted material and return it to new windrows of compost. Allow the old compost to sit for six weeks before using so that all microbes will die out. If you use active compost while it is still fresh, these microbes may damage the roots of the plants that you use the compost in.
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