Composting Snot

I’ve been looking at ways to reduce the biggest component of our garbage: snot-filled Kleenex. Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that I use a major name brand of tissue that’s not even made from recycled fibers. I feel bad about this but my sweetie and I can easily go through 50 tissues day, especially with allergies this time of year.

“All the more reason you should buy recycled!,” you say. I agree, but my nose simply cannot take being wiped with the equivalent of 400-grit sandpaper over two dozen times a day. The skin and tissue (mine!) would be beyond raw.

We’ve thought about the hankie route. The concern again is with the sheer volume of mucus. There is no way a single kerchief is going to absorb that much snot. And, I’m usually not squeamish, but there is also no way that I want to store a disgusting soaked hankie in my pocket or purse. To be on the safe side, we would need at least a dozen hankies each. Where does one store that many, both clean and soiled? Do we buy a gross (a dozen dozen) to keep on hand so that we don’t have to do laundry every night? I just can’t figure out the logistics of this, especially with scarce water resources in the desert.

Maybe there’s an alternative to adding to the waste stream. In my research on what is allowable in compost, a number of sites list used paper towels and tissues. Well, we very rarely use paper towels, but we sure do use tissues. My concern here is with bacteria and other nasties.

A study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases in October 2006 reports:

Many people carry Staphylococcus aureus, a potential disease-causing microbe, in their nose and now new research shows that large amounts of this organism and other bacteria are released into the air with every sneeze.

In a discussion on food poisoning, Health A to Z cautions:

It is estimated that 50% of healthy people have the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in their nasal passages and throat, and on their skin and hair. Rubbing a runny nose, then touching food can introduce the bacteria into cooked food. Bacteria flourish at room temperature, and will rapidly grow into quantities capable of making people sick.

Could I safely throw our tissues in the compost pile and then confidently use that compost on food crops? I’ve searched online and had trouble finding any references at all to whether this is a legitimate concern. Yesterday, I saw that John and Louisa in the UK recommend that you do not try to compost your snot due to the possibility that pathogens will survive the composting process.


On Joseph Jenkins’ Humanure site, he instructs composters to allow composted toilet material to age for one year before applying it to your soil. If the compost temperature is maintained at the proper heat levels, the finished compost can be used on food crops.

So yes, I’m confident that in the right composting conditions, composting our snotty tissues would render the pathogens harmless. Unfortunately, our current situation does not allow us to set up an appropriate composting system and have the time to age it properly.

Will I be composting my snot anytime soon? Probably not. Will I try composting my snot in the future? You bet! I’ve already warned my sweetie that we will be doing the humanure thing at some point. (Hopefully this won’t be grounds for divorce!)

What I will do now is try every brand of recycled tissue available in the area to see if there is one that can be used at least 10-25% of the time. I will also look into a small hankie stash for those days when the mucus is not running out of my nasal passages with the stamina and determination of a marathon runner.