I did this over my husband's strenuous and regularly repeated objections. It so greatly reduced our household garbage. You can compost all your food scraps, junk mail, non-glossy papers, including paper towels, paper plates, napkins. I kept the bin (eventually added a second) going for more than two years. This year, between one week and another, the worms all died. I was so sad. Also, the bins began to stink (I mean STINK in big letters). Husband insists I begin a compost bin without hte worms, but I'm not sure...I got to really like the little critters and this from a girl who refused to touch the earthworms in high school and college biology classes when it came to dissection! They are really interesting. Search "worm composting" on the web for more information. Definitely, go for it!