Читать книгу Organic Book of Compost - Pauline Pears - Страница 9

Composting is something that humankind has been doing for centuries, but in this day and age, why should we as individuals bother? We now know that typically over 40 percent of household waste can be composted, but why not leave it for local authorities to deal with? Does home composting really solve any problems? Can something as simple as composting kitchen and garden waste help mitigate the effects of climate change? Can it benefit you or your children? If you are not interested in gardening or only have a balcony or tiny backyard, is it worth the trouble? The answer to all those questions is “yes.” Read on to find out the many reasons why home composting is a worthwhile and beneficial practice.

BENEFITS TO YOU

Turning waste into something of value, rather than just passing it on to someone else to deal with, is very empowering. Taking responsibility means that you are reducing the impact of the waste you produce on the wider community and environment.

These days there are so many large environmental issues such as climate change that seem too big for an individual to do anything about, but composting is something that we can all do. Composting can help the average household cut the amount of waste it puts in the bin (or recycling box) by 40 percent – a considerable figure. The small task of starting to home compost means that you will be helping to work towards a sustainable future.

ORGANIC GARDENING

If you have a garden and aim to manage it organically, then making compost is essential. Home composting plays a key role in organic growing – compost helps keep plants healthy and can make it easier to avoid the use of pesticides.

SAVING MONEY AND TIME

Making compost, leaf mold and mulches reduces the amount of money you spend on buying fertilizers, soil conditioner and potting composts. Using these home-produced products reduces the need for watering – a valuable time-saver and cost-cutter if your water is on a meter.

Millions of tons of food are thrown away every year after purchase – this is good food that doesn’t actually get to the table but is thrown away before being prepared or eaten. Collecting food waste to compost helps to make you aware of how much food your household is wasting and may concentrate your mind when it comes to shopping. This new awareness may not help your compost heap, but it could be good for your budget!

Adding homemade compost to your plants is environmentally responsible and reduces the need for water and fertilizer.

Reducing the volume of waste that your public works needs to collect and recycle may also help cut its costs, which can only be good for taxes. Reducing the amount of trash that we dispose of is not only desirable, it is becoming increasingly necessary as we run out of suitable landfill sites and require greater capacity to burn waste for energy.

SLIM YOUR BIN

Home composting can cut the speed at which your garbage can fills up, and reduce the risk of unpleasant odors from the bin. With cuts in the frequency of garbage collection in many areas, this can be an important issue.

SLIM YOURSELF

Composting could keep you fitter and healthier. A bit far fetched you may think? None of the jobs connected with making compost are particularly strenuous, however, every little bit adds up. Think of the daily stroll to and from the compost bin, turning the heap (if that’s the method you decide upon), harvesting the finished compost and, finally, spreading it on the garden. In addition to this, being outside, either making or using your compost, will help give you the “feel-good factor.”

Collecting kitchen waste for composting can actually help reduce the quantity of food that you waste.

ENGAGING CHILDREN

Children soon take to the idea of putting waste in a compost bin rather than into the garbage can. This helps to raise awareness of all sorts of other environmental issues vital to their future.

An amazing number of creatures live in a compost heap – from woodlice to toads, from beetles to worms. You can find more in here. This makes compost a fascinating resource for children (and adults) to explore.

BENEFITS TO THE GARDEN

Making compost turns vegetable scraps, cereal boxes, weeds, fruit peels, egg boxes and a host of other unlikely items into that high-quality soil improver and fertility builder, compost. Composting recycles all the plant foods in these “waste products” into a form that can be used again by the millions of tiny creatures that live in the soil, and by the plants growing in it.

Compost could be seen as a “wholefood” providing nutrients in a balanced form, and lots of fiber! When you add compost to your garden, the soil-living creatures get to work to break it down further, meanwhile improving the soil and making nutrients available to growing plants. The chapter entitled “How to use your compost” (see here) explains how compost and other recycled garden products can be used to enhance and improve your garden, whatever its style and size.

Homemade compost is all that these cabbages need to produce a good crop. The benefits to garden flowers are evident too.

How compost benefits the garden

• Makes your garden grow!

• Makes heavy clay soil lighter, so it drains better and is easier for plant roots to penetrate.

• Adds “body” to light soil so that it holds on to water and plant foods, thus reducing the need for feeding and watering.

• Feeds the millions of soil-living creatures that keep the soil healthy.

• Helps plants to resist pest and disease attack.

This crop of sweetcorn and beans has benefited from homemade compost. Herbs and flowers (above) will also show the results of compost use.

NO MORE BONFIRES!

Although bonfires are banned in many areas now, they can still be a common sight (and smell) in some places. This is a waste of resources and is unnecessary, particularly as nearly all weeds and crop wastes can be composted and broken down, returning their nutrients to the soil.

BENEFITS FOR THE FUTURE ENVIRONMENT

We are told that we must make lifestyle changes to reduce the impact of climate change and minimize our personal carbon footprint. How can home composting kitchen scraps and garden rubbish make a difference?

SAVING PEAT BOGS

Homemade compost, leaf mold and mulches can be used in the garden in place of peat and peat-based seed and potting composts used by amateur gardeners.

So why is using peat a problem?

Peat is the result of thousands of years of plants slowly decomposing in waterlogged, acidic conditions. We have been using this resource so quickly in recent times that there is no opportunity for it to replenish itself.

Like the tropical rainforests that so many people have fought to preserve, peat bogs provide the habitat for a huge diversity of plant and animal life, from mosses to birds. These areas should be preserved before they are destroyed forever. Peat extraction not only disturbs rare wildlife but also releases carbon dioxide (one of the main “greenhouse gases” responsible for global warming) into the atmosphere every year. Bogs contain millions of tons of carbon.

WILDLIFE HABITAT

The compost bin itself provides an extra habitat for wildlife in your garden. As well as the millions of microscopic and tiny creatures that do the composting, others, such as worms, lizards and snakes (increasing rarities) may find a compost bin an attractive place to live for a while.

REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASSES

When kitchen scraps and garden prunings (biodegradable waste) are buried in a landfill site they decay without oxygen, unlike composting which is an aerobic (with oxygen) process. This means that methane is produced, another gas that is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect, which causes global warming.

Landfill operators now have measures to capture methane, using it, for example, to power generators on site and also add energy back into the national grid. However, this equipment is costly to install and maintain, and there is still some loss of gas.

SUSTAINABLE AND LOCAL MEANS ENERGY EFFICIENT

Home composting is remarkably energy efficient in several respects. These days an increasing volume of the biodegradable waste collected by local authorities, and that delivered to recycling centers, will be composted. This is much better than putting it into landfill, but it still has an environmental impact in the amount of energy used to transport and process the waste. In some cases you can buy the resulting compost (which is better than using peat) but this is often packaged in plastic sacks and also needs to be transported, thus consuming valuable energy resources.

The only energy required for home composting is yours! Using home compost and other home-recycled products on the garden in place of purchased products will also save the energy required for their production, packaging and distribution. Fertilizers can be very energy-intensive to produce; some are based on dwindling natural resources and may be imported from distant countries.

CUT LANDFILL

Over the last few decades we have been filling up landfill sites (basically holes in the ground) with rubbish. This is not a sustainable option. Landfill sites can pollute the environment and suitable sites are becoming increasingly scarce.

One of the current alternatives to landfill is “Energy from Waste,” which includes incineration. This is not a popular alternative with the general public because of the perceived issue of local environmental impact.

Both landfill and incineration are huge wastes of natural resources. The more that householders can reduce the volume of waste they throw away, the less will be the need for either landfill sites or for controversial incinerators.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals make compost for all sorts of different reasons – from saving time and money to being able to show their children all the amazing creatures that live in a compost bin. Pick your own reasons and give it a go!