Thursday, May 27, 2010

Fun find in the compost pile

Found in one of my compost piles:

T-shirt tags attached to thread

Some years ago, I came across the perfect white cotton t-shirt. The fabric was soft and comfortable, the fit was great, and I wore it often. Over time, holes developed. I mended what I could.

The day came when I had to declare the shirt ready for the rag pile. Reluctantly, I pulled out the scissors, and cut my t-shirt into a number of cloth wipes. The wipes served us well, helping us to clean dishes and mop up spills.

Even wipes wear out. When the holes got too big, I added the pieces of cloth to a compost pile in the backyard.

As I turned the pile this spring, the item in the picture got caught up in my pitchfork. I'm used to finding all sorts of hidden treasures in with the composting yard trim, but what was this?!

Thread... a tag... Of course! These were the remains of my t-shirt. At least, what I had in my hands was what was left of the shoulder seam: while the t-shirt fabric was 100% cotton - and had completely decomposed - the thread and tag were apparently not!

Happy composting, and... discovering!

Read more about how to get started with composting yard trim (not necessarily t-shirts, though they do count as a carbon-rich ingredient!).

Need a compost bin? Visit our list of compost bin pickup locations, newly updated for Spring 2010.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Have a comment? Let us know what you think about this post. All comments are subject to Montgomery County's social media policy.