Hello Mary; all of the ...

Hello Mary; all of the comments below are quite correct. In any adventure into the microbial world has risks. Yours would be 1. what goes into the pile. 2. what sneaks into the pile. 3. What you intend to use the finished product for. All of this important information exists within the microbial world of DNA microbes. Everyone is always looking how to reduce the risks, speed up the process, and increase the quality of the finished material. Now let us enter the world of the RNA microbes. The domain, Kingdom, and species name is Archaea.  They are aerobic. Their average working temperature is 185 F. Their ph range is 5.5 to 10.0. Classified as extremeophoid.  This means they are heat tolerant (max temp is 427F), cold tolerant ( 28 F), and salt tolerant.  Knowing this allows the parameters/risk factors to change. It does not matter what is put into your compost pile. if it is a compound it will be broken down into its elemental form or chelated into its non toxic metal form. The Archaea microbe has an exponential growth rate of once every 20 minutes. (accelerates the process and insures zero pathogens and zero toxins). What was a precaution is now a super benefit. All modern day composting operations add sea salts to their piles to more accurately reflect the nutritional base line of all life forms on earth. Yes a lot of hard core scientific facts in a short arena. But when you understand DNA microbes are responsible for 30% of soil microbiology and RNA is responsible for 70% it warrants looking into.  Just remember "Now it is possible for all waste to be recycled at in-situ. (on the spot).  This is not new. Been around for 40 years.  Enjoy making the world a better place.