# What do you do with the eggshells?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 31, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700 "2011-08-31T00:33:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/41 "2011-08-31T15:05:46Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> The eggshells go into the compost bucket, because the carton isn’t future trash, it’s future recycling.
> [@Implicit](#):
>
> The carton is recyclable, that’s why not.
I wish, but not my egg cartons which are styrofoam and not accepted for recycling in my community. I would prefer to buy eggs packaged in the paper pulp cartons, but they are more expensive and harder to find these days. ☹
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/42 "2011-08-31T15:13:04Z")
I also grind them in the garbage disposal.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/43 "2011-08-31T15:18:29Z")
Something else. They are crushed and mixed in with cracked corn that gets fed to the geese.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/44 "2011-08-31T15:22:53Z")
> [@Askance](#):
>
> I’m saddened that over half the votes so far are “straight in the trash”. Is composting your organic waste not as nearly universal as I thought?
We don’t all live in the suburbs where humans have driven out all the big mammals. Composting food waste can attract raccoons and [bears](http://www.google.com/#q=composting+attracts+bears&hl=en&prmd=ivns&ei=-09eTvy5GIXK0AHWpejYAg&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=cf799297008d2d18&biw=960&bih=505). I don’t know about you, but while I’ve made peace with raccoons I don’t like bears in my yard. That’s why we don’t compost anymore.
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### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/45 "2011-08-31T15:26:50Z")
Disposal here. I definitely wouldn’t put them back in the carton, because I return the carton to the egg vendor at the farmers market.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/46 "2011-08-31T15:28:57Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> Pretty much, yes. I wash my hands after handling the egg carton. I figure the whole carton is suspect. But my trash bin is not right where I crack eggs (at the stove, usually) and I prefer not to carry them across the room possibly dripping raw egg on the floor to drop them in the garbage. Like some people. Gross.
>
> My method keeps any and all egg drips on the counter where it will be quickly cleaned up or in the carton which will remain closed in the fridge. I’m pretty sure if there’s salmonella in my house, it’s on my sink and sponge. I’m don’t feel all that inclined to blast everything with sanitizer all the time.
Protip: have a garbage bowl on the counter. (God help me, but I picked up that tip from Rachel Ray’s cooking shows.) A mixing bowl or whatever, right there where you need it, to toss carrot tops, eggshells, etc. Then all the waste gets thrown out at the same time when you’re done - no dripping on the floor required.
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### Author:  [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/47 "2011-08-31T15:38:07Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> Protip: have a garbage bowl on the counter. (God help me, but I picked up that tip from Rachel Ray’s cooking shows.) A mixing bowl or whatever, right there where you need it, to toss carrot tops, eggshells, etc. Then all the waste gets thrown out at the same time when you’re done - no dripping on the floor required.
I already do that when I’m chopping vegetables and preparing a meal, but a bowl just for some eggshells? Seems unnecessary when the carton performs the same task.
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### Author:  [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/48 "2011-08-31T17:13:09Z")
Really, back into the carton? Eww. OTOH you and your Ma both do it and no one is sick so…what ever floats your boat, right?
Eggshells go right into the disposal.
No thank you to composting. My neighbor does it with a tumbler and animals are always screwing with it. He keeps asking people to come shoot bears for him and I always think, “Yeah, I’ll get right on that, just as soon as you stop baiting them.”
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/49 "2011-08-31T17:21:35Z")
Several days out of the month I walk on 'em.
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### Author:  [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/50 "2011-08-31T17:25:10Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> Pretty much, yes. I wash my hands after handling the egg carton. I figure the whole carton is suspect. But my trash bin is not right where I crack eggs (at the stove, usually) and I prefer not to carry them across the room possibly dripping raw egg on the floor to drop them in the garbage. Like some people. Gross.
>
> My method keeps any and all egg drips on the counter where it will be quickly cleaned up or in the carton which will remain closed in the fridge. I’m pretty sure if there’s salmonella in my house, it’s on my sink and sponge. I’m don’t feel all that inclined to blast everything with sanitizer all the time.
I crack eggs on/over a piece of paper towel laid on the counter, put the empties there 'til I’ve got them all opened, then wad up the P-towel with the shells inside and carry it across the kitchen to the trash. No muss, no fuss, no bacterial growth 🆒
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/51 "2011-08-31T18:05:37Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#):
>
> I use crushed egg shells in my homemade dog food.
I use ground-up puppies in my homemade chicken feed.
Regards,
Shodan
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/52 "2011-08-31T19:12:52Z")
> [@Shodan](#):
>
> I use ground-up puppies in my homemade chicken feed.
>
> Regards,
> Shodan
It’s the circle of life!
To the OP: What’s wrong with putting the shells back in the carton and then disposing of (or composting) them all at once before putting the carton back in the fridge?
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### Author:  [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/53 "2011-09-01T02:27:14Z")
In the spring, I crush them up and put them in the garden. The rest of the year, they go in the compost.
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### Author:  [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/54 "2011-09-01T02:36:52Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#):
>
> It’s the circle of life!
>
> To the OP: What’s wrong with putting the shells back in the carton and then disposing of (or composting) them all at once before putting the carton back in the fridge?
Nothing, I guess. I may do this just to keep the peace, although he’s not that bent out of shape about it. At least not as far as I can tell. It seems to be one of those minor disagreements that ends up as a peeve of the can-live-with-it-but-don’t-like-it variety. Honestly, I still don’t see what the harm is in letting them sit in the carton in the fridge. I never realized that I am apparently one of few people not grossed out by broken eggshells. Go figure.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/55 "2011-09-01T02:50:15Z")
Raw egg is the best growing medium for a wide variety of micro-organisms. The salmonellea, although it may have traveled in small numbers throught he micro-pores of the eggshell, has never before been bathed in the rich feast of egg that your fingers spread over their lair as you pull the egg apart and then stack one half inside the other.
Its also a convenient catch-all for whatever various bugs and spores may be flowing through your refridgerator’s air space. It catches them, and provides the perfect food and medium for growth. The only limitation at this point, (and it slows rather than stops growth in most cases) is the ambient temperature.
Each time you pull the carton out again, all those semi-dormant little grossites on the old eggshells get a few minutes at more conducive temps to take advantage of their good fortune. If your finger brushes one, they then get a new lease on life, and the opportunities are limitless.
TL: DR - Throw away the eggshells, Your Honey is right.
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### Author:  [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/56 "2011-09-01T12:37:15Z")
I put them back in the carton, as does my mom. I think it might be pretty common practice among people who have worked in restaurants or for large groups.
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### Author:  [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/57 "2011-09-01T15:30:16Z")
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> Each time you pull the carton out again, all those semi-dormant little grossites on the old eggshells get a few minutes at more conducive temps to take advantage of their good fortune. If your finger brushes one, they then get a new lease on life, and the opportunities are limitless.
The eggshells dry out pretty quick, within a day or so I don’t think there’s anything that could live off of them anymore. I usually toss my shells into the trash but if I’m saving them for my plants I’ll keep them in the carton until the eggs are used up. By this time the shells are dry and I can crush them up without getting my hands all eggy.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/58 "2011-09-01T15:39:49Z")
I throw them in the garbage. My wife puts them back in the container.
We definitely _don’t_ but them in the disposal - one time my wife made a bunch of deviled eggs for a party and shelled 18 boiled eggs into the sink. The disposal got clogged, but good. I practically had to take it apart to clean it out.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/59 "2011-09-01T16:33:01Z")
garbage disposal.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-the-eggshells/594700/60 "2011-09-01T17:15:41Z")
Other: garbage disposal
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