I've got a large 3 compartment compost box built and i'm in my first year, filling the first compartment. In my previous compost (at a different location) I found it quite easy to build good, high quality compost that heated up and worked very fast. (So fast and hot in fact, meat could be composted safely).

In this new box, the materials don't seem to be composting as readily and the box is more of a cold/vermiculture compost. In the new location i don't have a good carb/nitrogen mix as I have mostly nitrogen additives (grass, vegetable scraps etc.) My thinking is that I need a carbohydrate food source to generate the microbial heat required to kill seeds and pathogens.

Lacking straw, hay or leaves, is newspaper a viable source of the carbs required to do this? I get 3 newspapers delivered every week and they just go right into the recycle bin.. might as well be putting them in the compost if it will work.

The link below shows the compost bin - perhaps my design is the core of the problem?

thanks!

I agree, the soil forum will get you precise input from the compost enthusiasts.

The usual compost here is fresh grass, barn waste of hay/stray manure, kitchen scraps, extra coffee grounds and shredded leaves all in layers and turned regularly. It all usually cooks and breaks down very nicely in a few months. But not the year of the Seattle Times.....

I'm new to the PNW but in California I used newspaper all the time in compost, without problems. Much drier down there, is the only difference I can think of. Shredding helps, or tearing into small strips by hand.

Do you have any sawdust available? That's also a good brown component.

Yes, check out the SCM forum here on GardenWeb. They'll tell you all you want to know and much, much more ...