Can Vacuum Dust Be Composted?

Vacuuming is part of the house cleaning routine for most people, and many people, when the dust bag or cylinder on their cleaner is full, simply empty the dust into the dirt bin or throw the entire bag away if it is disposable.

However, perhaps you, like many other people, also wonder if vacuum dust would benefit the soil in your garden and if it can be added to your compost heap.

The fact that you do not know precisely what is in the vacuum cleaner dust is the thing that causes issues about adding it to the compost in your garden.

Your vacuum cleaner sucks up mainly organic matter like breadcrumbs, dead skin particles, sand, and dirt, all of which are organic, and perfectly fine for composting.

However, about 20% of what your cleaner picks up, is non-organic, such as the synthetic fibres from carpets, clothing, and so forth, which are not compostable.

How do I use the dust from my cleaner in the compost for my garden?

With regular vacuuming, the lint from vacuum cleaners is normally a mixture of human hair, pet fur, dead skin, sand, and dirt. However, since it also contains synthetic, non-compostable matter, it must be done in a way that it can be easily broken down by the bacteria and microorganisms that help to create the compost.

For instance:

Instead of simply dropping a large lump of dust on the compost heap, break it up with a stick and mix it in well with some of the other compost matter. Add water too, to make sure that the vacuum cleaner dust is mixed in properly.

By following this procedure every time you add vacuum cleaner dust to your compost, you are giving the bacteria and microorganisms more chance of breaking down most of the dust you have added.

Benefits of compost to your garden

There are several benefits to using compost in your garden, including:

  • It improves the quality of the soil and yields healthy plants
  • Compost helps to increase the nutrients in the soil and creates a natural, slow-release fertiliser for microbes and plants
  • It saves money by eliminating the need for using expensive, harmful chemical fertilisers that are harmful to humans, animals, and the environment
  • It helps the soil to retain moisture, thus reducing the need for frequent watering, while at the same time, allowing excess water to drain away properly
  • It is a natural insurance policy against drought
  • It helps with the reduction and prevention of pests and diseases and increases the life of the soil
  • Compost improves the structure of soil significantly, so that roots can spread out easily to get to the nutrients.
  • It helps to balance the pH in the soil (the measure of soil’s alkalinity or acidity).
  • Compost is also a buffer for soil imbalance, thus helping to reduce the stress in plants
  • These are all excellent reasons to help increase compost production for your garden by adding the dust from your vacuum cleaner properly to your compost heap.

In conclusion

We all have a responsibility to work together to save our environment, and to achieve this, we must all be extremely careful with how we carry out our daily activities.

Even though recycling and composting are efficient ways to protect the environment, we must make sure to only recycle and compost those items which are organic and compostable. Failure to do this means that we are causing even more harm to our already fragile environment.