Compost Carbon

[jenglish]

ANy conditions or reasons it would not be OK to toss used carbon in the compost heap?

 

[wetWolger]

biggest reason I can think of is carbon overload....it will take a ton of nitrogen to equal it out and biodegrade it properly, maybe to the point where it will reduce the efficiency of the rest of the compost. But really it just depends on how much, and how big of a compost.

Also the hard compact form of the carbon may be hard to break down in itself.

 

[skanderson]

it depends on what you are going to do with that compost. i would never put used carbon in my compost that goes in any of my gardens especially if i will be eating out of it. remember why you used the carbon in the first place, to adsorb toxic substances. any organics will be broken down in the composting process, but any heavy metals will accumulate in your soil potentially poisoning your soil, produce, and eventually you.

 

[jenglish]

I think you would have to be using a lot of carbon before you were really effecting the soil much. Carbon ran in a tank of RO/DI water is going to have less heavy metals than watering the garden with tap water is going to have. Carbon is not particularly good at removing metals anyway.

 

[pleasants9]

i think id play it safe and just toss it