Last Updated on August 7, 2023 by teamobn
By Ashley Baxter and Hey Monty!
Do you know that your kitchen scraps and the compost bin at the bottom of your yard can help save the world? Want to know how?
Our planet is warming, our population continues to explode at an exponential rate and we’re depleting our soils faster than nature can replenish them. Fortunately, though, most of us are also trying to change this.
The zero-waste movement is on a roll. We’re moving rapidly to renewable energy sources, we’re buying more fuel-efficient cars and we’re a lot less likely to deliberately trash our environment. We’re more aware and better educated. Most of us are committed to a better future.
This brings us back to the humble compost bin.
Around the globe right now, organic waste is anywhere between 25-75% of a household’s waste output. But it’s organic, right? The green stuff is fine, it’s natural, it doesn’t cause any problems just sitting in a landfill … right? Unfortunately, not quite.
When organic waste is sent to landfills, it causes a number of socio-environmental problems and one of the biggest is the greenhouse gasses.
Most of us tend to think about fuel-guzzling tankers as the biggest producers of greenhouse gasses but not many of us know that the decay of organic waste in landfills is a massive problem. This decay contributes to approximately 2-3% of total global emissions!
Along with leaching into nearby waterways, attracting disease vectors, and emitting air pollution, organic waste has turned landfills into one of humanity’s most pressing issues.
What’s more, as we send organic waste to landfills and get all the problems that go with it, we’re also missing out on a huge opportunity…
Global food insecurity is another massive problem, with acute soil degradation and artificial fertilizer shortages. This is affecting people and ecosystems around the world.
So, how is compost – the simple art of recycling organic waste into a natural fertilizer – a solution to all of these problems?
Compost is the controlled processing of organic waste into a high-quality organic fertilizer and soil enricher, utilizing microbial decomposition. This process does a whole lot of amazing things, including:
- Reducing methane emissions
- Preventing the leaching of toxic fluids and water pollution of landfills
- Repairs land and improves soil health
- Supplements and replaces artificial fertilisers
- Restores important micronutrients, improves moisture retention and increases crop production
- Sequesters carbon from the air
And these benefits don’t even scratch the surface of the complexity, science, and wonder of the field of composting and the benefits it can bring to societies and environments around the world.
The best part of it? All it takes is putting your waste into a different bin.
ready for the garden
If you’re as obsessed with compost as we are or want to learn more, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Here at Monty, we’re the experts in organics so any questions on composting, flick us a message and we will be happy to answer!
