Can dryer lint be added to compost?

Several people have told me they throw dryer lint in their garden, is it safe to say the composter would break it down further? Any other not too bizarre things to throw in instead of throwing out?Thanks in advance.

I throw mine in now and again.....I also add it to my worm bin.
It's more or less just bits of cloth and thread afterall
I could be wrong for doing this, but hey, so far so good :-)

My DH gets tired of seeing the lumps of lint lying around in the basement waiting to go out to the compost.
He also rolls his eyes when I tell him not to throw out that vacuum cleaner bag he's just removed. I open up the bag and pull apart all the dust and pet hair that's filled it for compost.
As well, if you're not already doing it, all the junk mail. You don't have to worry about identity theft if you're letting the worms eat all those credit card solicitations!

Michele

I have been thinking about this thread and the thread on adding shredded junk mail to the compost. While it is an emotionally satisfying concept the chemicals that go into laundry detergent, fabric softeners and clothing/paper manufacturing are deeply concerning and I really think you need to approach this with moderation if at all. These are not products meant for human consumption and cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed crops around. Even adding cottonseed to the compost would be questionable. We used to have a paper plant in a nearby town and the EPA is still on site after a decade trying to detox the PBCs from the soil and return the site to any use.

Thanks for the heads-up on chemicals. Clarification, my junk mail only goes on the ornamental beds. I started planning to do more edible landscaping last year, but I stopped when I realized that there are some things I put in the ornamental beds that aren't organic. Also, I'm buying non-petroleum detergent (Seventh Generation) and not using other products like fabric softener. I haven't quite gotten to the stage where all of my cotton clothing is organic, though, so I guess I'll have to evaluate your good point on that. I also appreciate the cottonseed meal point, since putting that on my ornamentals might expose my pets to more chemicals than I want to.

you might consider going to the dirt cheap forum and searching for laundry detergent. You can make your own chemical free LD for about 1.50 for 5 gallons.

Wow! Is that low-suds so I can use it in a front-end loader?

Good points everyone!

The lady at the greenhouse here thought I was nuts last year for insisting on ORGANICALLY composted cotton seeds hulls. She insited cotton was organic, and i had to explain it to her. Now she get the right stuff from Back-to-Earth. Back in the old days, my granny would just get a load of cotton seeds hulls from a local mill.

homemade LD is not sudsy at all - a few mentioned it worked will in a front loader.