Why compost?

Why compost?

There are plenty of very good reasons for
gardeners to make compost, but above all, it
spares the environment the damage caused by
burying or burning waste, reduces the need to
destroy natural habitats by excavating peat,
and saves you money.
don’t dump it, Recycle it
US household garbage adds up to more than 200 million tons a
year, or roughly 5 pounds (2 kg) per person per day, of which about
a quarter is recycled. Only about ten percent of British household
waste is recycled, which puts the UK near the bottom of the
European league. Some countries, like Germany and Denmark,
do much better, although a few are even worse. Most waste is
incinerated or ends up in landfill, yet about half of all household
waste could be composted.
At the same time, every year gardeners around the world buy
millions of tons of growing media, soil conditioners, and mulching
materials, much of it based on peat. A high proportion of this
could be replaced, free of charge, if gardeners started recycling
what they now simply throw away.
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Incinerated waste is returned immediately to the air as
carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases, causing air pollution and
contributing to global warming. Organic matter in landfill also
slowly decays, but the main product is methane, an even worse
greenhouse gas than CO2, and 25 percent of US methane emissions
come from biodegradable waste in landfill sites.
The soil is also the safest place for waste organic matter.
Once returned to temperate soils as compost, some organic matter
stays there, often for a long time. More widespread use of compost
by farmers and gardeners could make a small but significant
contribution to the commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol
of 1997 to reduce CO2 emissions.