Title: COMPOSTING IS RECYCLING – HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
1COMPOSTING IS RECYCLING HERES WHAT YOU SHOULD
KNOW
2Too often we think of recycling as something we
do with the plastic and glass bottles we dont
want to throw in the trash, but theres more to
recycling around your home than you might think.
Composting is another form of recycling thats
growing in popularity, and for good reason.
Composting allows you to recycle organic material
you collect around your home food scraps and
lawn clippings for example -, which can then be
added to soil to help your plants grow. Since
food scraps and yard waste currently make up 20
to 30 percent of what we throw away, recycling
your green waste by composting is a great way to
help the environment and there are a number of
benefits for you as well. But before you get
started, heres what you should know about
composting around your home.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
3The Benefits of Composting Our increasing
consumption of food products produces an equal
growth in the volume of waste heading to
landfills worldwide. Theres no simpler cure to
this than to start composting your waste at home.
Food scraps often hit the trashcan without a
second thought, but consider how much youre
tossing away every day and then think how many of
the six billion other people are doing the same!
Fear not, theres a role everybody can play to
reduce this increasing burden on our landfills
and benefit the health of your garden at the same
time composting.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
4- Some benefits of recycling your food waste into
compost at home include - Enriching the quality of your soil by adding
minerals such as phosphates and nitrogen
essential fertilizer ingredients reducing the
need for chemical based fertilizers. - Helping to naturally retain moisture content
without additional mulches. - Suppressing plant diseases and pests.
- Encouraging the production of beneficial bacteria
that naturally break down organic matter and
increase the biodiversity of your garden patch. - Lowering your environmental footprint through
reduced methane emissions and reduced volume of
waste to landfills.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
5What Can You Compost? Composting is widely
known as the process of recycling your kitchen
scraps and leftover food waste, but youd be
surprised to know that there are other green
compost items that are considered recyclable. In
general, composting around the home comes in the
following forms.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
6Garden waste Leaves, branches, grass clippings
and any other plant-based waste you would
normally throw away. Many city-operated refuse /
landfill stations have a green recycling section
you can drop your garden waste off to, but this
normally means that you need a trailer or truck
to transport it. Alternatively, many cities
provide separate recycling bins for this type of
waste commonly referred to as green-bins.
Check with your city office to see if a similar
product is offered for you to use.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
7- Kitchen scraps Any food you dont eat (apart
from meat products) can be recycled as compost.
Fruits, vegetables and even your expired flowers
can all be given a second-life as food for your
garden. Any hardware store will sell specialized
compost bins for you to place in your garden at
home. These bins are designed especially to
increase ventilation and promote decomposition of
organic material, so you get rich compost full of
recycled material, which you can then use in your
garden. - Paper What you probably didnt realize is that
many types of paper can be recycled through
composting too. Composting household paper
products such as cardboard takeout containers,
paper towels, napkins and even wax paper used for
cooking all these products are safe to add to
your compost bin and, with the assistance of your
kitchen scraps, will break down into compost you
can reuse.
8- Composting at Home
- Now you understand what to compost and why, its
time to get dirty! Composting around the home
requires a devoted space to allow material to
break down into compost. The way you compost in
this area can take a number of forms a compost
pile, or a specialized compost bin. No matter
which option you choose, youll need some basic
tools like a pitchfork, garden trowel, shovel and
a good set of gardening gloves. In general, all
composting requires three ingredients
9Composting at Home Cont.
- Brown materials Dead leaves, branches, twigs
etc.http//www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-wasted-foo
d-home - Green materials Grass clippings, vegetable
waste, fruit scraps, and coffee grounds
anything that has moisture to assist with the
biodegrading process. - Additional moisture Adding the right amount of
water to your compost is important for good
compost development.
10- The brown materials provide carbon, the green
provide nitrogen and the water adds moisture to
break down the compost material. If youve got
these fundamentals covered, then youre good to
go. - How to Compost in Your Backyard
- If youve got the yard space, then youre likely
to consider recycling your garden waste in your
backyard. Here are some tips to follow - Select a shady spot near a water source for your
compost pile or bin. - Add any brown and green materials as you find
them. Be sure to chop larger pieces into smaller
sizes to speed up decomposition. - Add moisture to dry materials that are added.
- Mix grass clippings and other green waste into
the pile with a garden fork, and make sure you
bury fruit and vegetable waste underneath
existing compost material. - When the material at the bottom of your pile or
bin is dark and rich in color, your compost is
ready to use. Depending on your location, this
can take between two months and two years.
11How to Compost Indoors Not everyone has space
for an outdoor compost pile, especially those in
a condo or apartment complex. But this doesnt
mean you cant compost. You can recycle your food
scraps indoors using a special type of bin,
available at many hardware stores or a more
efficient and popular means of composting indoors
is to use the Bokashi Composting method. Bokashi
uses a sealed compost bucket that allows the
fermentation of organic matter. Since its
sealed, its a great option if youre concerned
about smells and rodents indoors. If you
didnt know it already, composting is a great
form of recycling that allows you to benefit from
your own waste. Reduce rubbish to landfill and
help the environment by turning your kitchen
scraps, garden waste and even paper products into
recycled matter that you can re-use in your
garden. Your prize-winning roses will thank you
for your efforts.
http//www.allgreenrecycling.com
12Questions? Comments?
- Website http//www.allgreenrecycling.com/
- All Green Recycling
- info_at_allgreenrecycling.com
- (800) 780-0347
-
- Resources
- http//www.allgreenrecycling.com/blog/composting-r
ecycling-heres-know/