About Backyard Composting

Think about it – we throw away a lot of kitchen scraps and yard waste. Most of it ends up in landfills. Reducing the amount of kitchen scraps is an important part to the waste reduction strategy. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, dates on food labels almost never indicate anything about the safety of the food, yet it contributes significantly to the amount of food discarded. To extend the life of food, consider freezing – many people are unaware of the variety of foods that can be frozen without problems. These include eggs, bread and milk!

With the food scraps that are produced, people are beginning to use it to make compost and enrich their soil for gardening. Composting is growing in the United States. It is a way to recycle yard and kitchen waste by controlling decomposition to make a nutrient-rich substance that can be used as fertilizer. Composting is a clear way to reduce the volume of garbage waste sent to landfills or incinerators for disposal.

The three basic ingredients for all garbage waste composting are: browns (including materials such as dead leaves, branches, twigs, wood chips or cardboard); greens (materials such as grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps and coffee grounds) and water. Achieving a proper ratio of these ingredients accelerates the breakdown of organic materials and creates “humus” – a dark brown or black substance with a soil-like, earthy smell that can be used as fertilizer. That’s humus, not hummus!

Environmental benefits of waste composting

There are a number of environmental benefits to composting:

  • Composting organic matter reduces the emission of greenhouse gases like methane.
  • Using compost as fertilizer reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, and promotes higher crop yields and less environmental degradation.
  • Compost can regenerate poor soils, and can be used to cleanup (or remediate) contaminated soil by absorbing odors and treating chemicals.

Municipal and home waste composting

You can create your own home compost from yard and kitchen waste as well, either outside or indoors using a compost bin. Waste composting can be done with a variety of different systems or containers, including appropriately sized compost bins for the kitchen. You can construct yours at home, or buy a compost system in a garden supply or home improvement store. Try to keep the ratio of greens to brown about equal, keep the pile moist and fluffy. At treehugger.com, they recommend treating your compost pile as a pet – feeding it a balanced diet.

For the more adventurous composter, try vermiculture or bokashi composting. Vermiculture uses worms to accelerate the breakdown of fruits and vegetables. You can buy red wiggler worms wherever fish bait is sold. If you can’t find it locally, you can buy live worms on the internet and have a box mailed to you! Bokashi composting involves fermenting the material, usually limited to food waste due to smaller size of the composting unit. This composting method is done anaerobically (without oxygen) and can accept food wastes normally discouraged from traditional methods.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website features an excellent how-to guide on home waste composting. You can also check the EPA website to find out more about municipal waste composting programs in your state.

Some dos and don’ts and one warning:

  • Do try to make the material smaller to accelerate decomposition
  • Do try to keep an even amount of brown and green materials
  • Don’t add diseased plants
  • Don’t add meat, fish, eggs, dairy or oils to your compost
  • Don’t add animal waste [1]
  • Be careful with seeds – Weeds have them and pumpkins have them -- try to make sure the seeds aren’t in there to avoid propagating the seeds when using the compost

[1] In general, animal waste is avoided due to concerns about pathogens and the fact that most of our pets are meat eaters. In particular, there is a concern about cat waste. Herbivore waste, however, can make a great compost. Many zoos compost their animal waste and make it available to the public. For instance, each elephant generates about a ton of waste every ten days. This “zoo doo” compost is given away for free by the Oregon Zoo. Other zoos might charge a small fee. If you are set on composting your dog’s droppings, the USDA prepared a document on composting dog wastes.

By the numbers – a national survey on composting

72
percentage of Americans do not compost their food waste

67
percentage of non-composters would be willing to do it if it were convenient in their community

62
percentage of Americans would not support any increase in the cost of waste disposal if composting were offered to them

Findings from a National Waste & Recycling Association-commissioned survey show that 72 percent of Americans do not compost their food waste, while 67 percent of these non-composters would be willing to do so if it were more convenient to do so in their community.

However, the survey also found that 62 percent would not support an increase in the cost of their waste and recycling service, either in the form of a separate fee or an increase in taxes, to support separate food and yard waste collection and processing.

“Waste and recycling experts agree that increased conversion of organics into either compost or energy sources is an evolving trend in our industry,” said Sharon H. Kneiss, president and CEO of the National Waste & Recycling Association. “While America’s waste and recycling industry has developed innovative composting technologies, there are hurdles inhibiting such changes. Challenges include the collection and transportation of food waste and the siting of food waste composting facilities more broadly. But a far greater hurdle inhibiting an organics revolution may involve a lack of understanding by the American public about the value of such a change.”

Kneiss added, “If you are passionate about expanding composting opportunities, you need to do more than lobby your local government officials or your community waste and recycling services provider to build such a program. You need to support efforts to educate your neighbors about the value of composting food waste.”

Major findings of the survey include:

  • More than three-quarters of Americans (77 percent) say that they understand the importance of implementing a separate management process for food/yard organic material waste instead of disposing of it with general household waste.
  • More than two-thirds of those who do not compost via community programs (68 percent) say they would be willing to manage another bin to separate food waste from recyclables and other trash if their community implemented a program requiring them to do so.
  • Among Americans who have gardens or a yard, four in five (79 percent) say they would be willing to use gardening fertilizers, mulch and other products made from food waste compost.

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of the National Waste & Recycling Association from Dec. 19 to 23, 2013, among 2,051 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey results and methodology, please see this link.

Continue reading here: Recycling Plastics

Was this article helpful?

0 0