Sure you can. ;) As is often said here, anything that was once living can be composted and that includes dairy products. Many compost dairy products. It is the amount that can become a problem if overdone - but that is true of anything. ;)

Dave

Ive done the winecorks, they go away, I think we did an avacado pit also, all gone. And the milk, not a big deal, I just dump it in the bucket on some shredded paper or paper towels or something, it really just acts as a liquid IMO. If its REALLY spoiled and a sitting in the bottom of a cup in a solid mass, yep, I throw that in too. (can ya tell Im not the best housekeeper.....)

For some reason, wine corks in my wormbed never seem to go anywhere. They don't hurt anything, but they don't break down. Don't know why. Same for coconut shells. Heh.

For me, avocado seeds first sprout and make nice little trees (which get killed at the first good frost) and then rot away.

I have thrown hunks of cheese gone bad into the worm bed. Adios amigo!

Here is a link that might be useful: Enjoy an Amazing Race recap and let the compost do the work on its own.

Wine corks don't break down quickly for the same reasons they are used in wine bottles in the first place. They are resistant to rot. Also they are fire and termite resistant and impermeable to gas and liquid.

When wine is stored properly, the cork remains constantly moist. A material that rots would not be a good candidate for stopping up the bottles.

Wayne

Any of those could be composted, it just depends on how well you work at the process. The major reason most all composters do not compost sour milk, or any dairy product, is the work involved in mixing it into the compost. Like any other seed Avocado pits can be composted, but again it depends on the volume, a large number could be a problem for the bacteria that would digest them. Cork does have some resistance to the digestion process, but they will, eventually, be digested and in a good, active compost pile that can happen sooner rather then later, unless you have the synthetic corks they are using today which will never get digested.

Thanks for the info.

Adkgdr - I hadn't thought about why cork is chosen as the material for wine bottles. That makes perfect sense. I think I have thought of another use for these - which is to fill the bottom of my large containers. I like to have something in there instead of soil - something lightweight. And yes, they are all cork! I don't bother saving the synthetic ones... :-)

The milk - I'll make sure that is absorbed by something -paper towels, tissues, whatever.

kimmsr et al - can you please expand on what you mean by the work that goes into mixing dairy into compost piles? I'm not too clear on why I shouldn't add milk, yoghurt, cheese, even meats to my piles. Of course I know about the argument that those items attract animals, but I've got animals anyway -- and out here in the country, I don't much care. It'd be different if I still lived in a town. Anyway, so far, I've been adding chicken & duck skins and bones, bits of uneaten meat, uneaten or spoiled cat food (I give them only a particular formulation of a particular brand -- organic pheasant). I also add dairy products. And I've just brought home quite a lot of unused or partly used sour creams or maybe they're yoghurts, and so on -- dips that look to be dairy-based. I'm planning to dump everything in one of my compost piles. This is a bad idea????

lynxe, I compost all that stuff too. Anything that an animal might be attracted to goes in the big tumbler though so they can't get at it. I've composted a big bag of chicken wings, a huge hunk of cheese and all kinds of food scraps. A big batch of fouled up banana pudding went in tonight in the dead squirrel side. I'm still amazed at how it never stinks. I've never had any problems with the end result compost either.

This thread is making me hungry!

was it the dead squirrel that did it for you jpw? :)