Composting By: Jenna Davis ECE Graduation Project 21 February 2013

What is Composting?  Composting encourages the production of certain microorganisms which break down organic matter to make humus.  Humus is a rich nutrient filled material, which increases the nutrient content in soils and helps it retain moisture (Environmental Benefits- Compost Enriches Soil).

Types of Composting  There are three main types of composting; and each one requires slightly different maintenance habits.  Depending on the type of composter is used dictates how long the process lasts and its difficulty.  In order from greatest to the least amount of maintenance is aerobic composting, Vermicomposting, anaerobic composting.

Aerobic Composting  Creates high temperatures and requires high maintenance and moisture.  Best used when large loads are being composted (Types of Composting/ According To its Nature).  Compost requires daily rotation or stirring to keep the air inside.

Aerobic Composting Cont.  The movement generated keeps the air circulating to keep the temperature high.  Internal temperature of the composter can reach up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit  The temperature causes fast growing bacteria and high nitrogen levels from the waste effectively breaking down the materials.  Green waste is the main type of waste used in Aerobic composting.  Ex: lawn clippings or grass.

Examples of Aerobic Composters The photographs above are of the composter that I built as part of my Graduation Project Product.

Vermicomposting  “Worm composting can reduce your garbage disposal costs, produces less odor and pests that garbage attracts, requires little space, little maintenance, and little labor” (Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage).  Vermicomposters require the following materials:  Orts (food scraps), oxygen and moisture, red worms, bacteria, fungi, and other insects and bugs.  Too much food inside of the composter can cause strong odors due to the organism’s inability to consume the excessive amount of waste (Types of Composting Benefits-of-Recycling).  Not enough food is placed inside just as any other living being starvation will result in death.

Examples of Vermicomposting

Anaerobic Composting  Anaerobic composting works by stacking debris in a closed off space  As the pile builds eventually the space will become too compact for oxygen to remain inside. Anaerobic literally means without air (Types of Composting/ According to Its Nature)  Anaerobic is basically the opposite of aerobic composting from its lack of required maintenance and oxygen.  “Anaerobic composting is low maintenance since you simply throw it in a pile and wait a couple years. If you just stack your debris in a pile it will generally compact to the point where there is no available air for beneficial organisms to live”(Types of Composting/ According to its Nature).

Examples of Anaerobic Composting

A World Without Composting  When people don’t compost or recycle all of the waste goes to a land fill and is eventually burned.  The main issue with landfills is that when a leak occurs there is no way of being notified until the water in the surrounding community is contaminated.  82% of the landfills reported leaks whereas 42% of the landfills had leaks from gaps as large as one square foot.  With as many as 3,091 active landfills, the United States has much room for growth in environmental improvement.  Unfortunately, there is no federal plan to enforce composting, so it’s up to Americans to get self- motivated and start (Landfills- Zero Waste America).

Why Should Composting be Used?  Composting has been proven to help the prevention of plant diseases and pests.  It also eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, and promote higher yields of agricultural crops (Environmental Benefits- Composting Enriches Soils

Why Should Composting be Used? Cont.  “America generates more waste every year, growing from 247 million tons of non- hazardous waste in 1990, to 409 million tons in 2001.” (Landfills -Zero Waste America)  If just 5% of the food wasted was recovered, America would have one day’s worth of food for 4 million people (Throwing Away Food).  “North Carolina alone is estimated to waste about 420,000 tons of food” (Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage)

Economic Benefits of Composting  ” Water is the most expensive addition to the vegetable garden and orchard” (Why Make Compost).  The water the soil can retain will increase up to 50% meaning that for the avid gardener their water bill can be reduced almost in half (Why Make Compost?).  So their compost just reduced the amount of money they spend on their water bills.

Economic Benefits of Composting Cont.  Composting also cuts down on time and energy spent in the garden, and as well known in today’s economy time is money.  As mentioned composing improves the soil, one of the effects of the improved soil is the reduction of weeds.  The composted soil prevents the sun from reaching the weed seedling making weeds harder to grow in this new environment (Why Make Compost?).  In normal garden weeds are hard to get rid of without the use of a chemical killer or an excessive amount of physical labor, but with compost what weed to show are much easier to pull (Why Make Compost?).  Also the compost soil doesn’t compact making digging and planting much simpler.  Erosion also becomes more difficult causing replacement of garden beds to decrease; combined these benefits save money spent to maintain a garden (Why Make Compost?).

Economic And Environmental Benefits of Composting Cont.  The amount of waste being sent to landfills is reduced, along with the risk of drinking water being contaminated.  More water is conserved with the increased absorption of the soil (Why Make Compost?).  Methane gases are reduced from the conversion of nitrogen from the green waste, and that helps protect the atmosphere.  The money that could have been wasted when food is thrown out is invested into new ways to help save the planet.

Summary  Overall composting has much more to offer than the amount of costs for composting to not be as widely recognized.  The biggest cost would be the money spent to build or purchase one of the three types of composter’s.  From the point of buying a composter no other money would be spent, except what money is already spent on food and other organic materials.  With such few costs an anomaly remains as to why America continues to be a contributor to the environmental free fall.

Summary Cont.  Even with the help of recycling, not all waste is disposed of in proper ways.  Composting is a low budget and an excellent way to dispose of organic matter, and yet there is still no federal plan in motion to enforce it (Landfills- Zero Waste America).  All Americans should compost not only to save money but also save the planet.  America helps by composting today; the Earth is more safe and accommodating tomorrow.