The biggest reason to have a composting service or compost on your own is it drastically reduces your waste. More than 50 percent of your household waste can be composted instead of being sent to the landfill. You can compost food waste, green waste from your garden or yards, or even small wood scraps or lightweight small cardboard pieces. Imagine how different our landfills would look if we all could easily divert half of it.
When compostable materials, mainly food waste, are left in the landfills, they rot, because the right balance of carbon and nitrogen are not present. Instead of creating beautiful compost, it creates methane gas, a strong greenhouse gas. Composting is a HUGE way to reduce your carbon footprint and fight climate change. The methane emissions from landfills in 2019 were approximately equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from more than 21,600,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year.
Compost holds in the moisture for your plants. It helps to fix difficult soils to retain more water and reduce runoff. Compost mixed in with soil creates soil clusters that allow air, moisture, and nutrients to form. This altered soil structure reduces soil erosion and retains water for plant growth. The Rodale Institute estimates that 1 pound of carbon can hold up to 40 pounds of water.
When those nutrients that are left in the food scraps, or other organic material are returned to the soil, they continue the cycle of life and give those nutrients back to the plants. Composting is nature’s original form of recycling. A curbside composting service is a great way to close the loop on our food system.
Basic Information about Landfill Gas | Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP)
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