By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: November 2, 2011
Composting is the new recycling. Everyone is aware of how important recycling is, but the environmental benefits of composting might seem less obvious.
At UFV, a composting program was piloted during the winter 2011 semester. Bins were set up across the campus for student’s food waste. Lisa Banks took over Down-to-Earth Compost Pick-up, the company involved in UFV’s program. The program is being looked at to start up after the successful trial run. “I’m quite excited, actually,” Banks said.
Banks works picking up compost throughout Abbotsford. She does industrial and residential pick-ups: “I have a couple of elementary schools that are on board as well,” Banks said, “the whole city hall, I pick-up on each floor, and I do the fire hall, too.”
For students living out on their own without a backyard, Down-to-Earth offers a composting option and the cost isn’t expensive. “It depends on the size,” Banks explained. “If you have the kitchen counter top one, and that’s 1.8 gallons, that’s $5.50. Some people have two pick-ups a week; some have it once every two weeks, depending on your usage.”
Because her loads aren’t weighed at her drop off point, a gardening company called The Answer Garden Product Ltd, Bank’s wasn’t entirely certain of how much she picks up in a week. “Probably three, maybe four hundred pounds in my little van,” she said, laughing, “by the time I’m done the wheels are just bulging.” It’s a good option; one less thing in the landfill.
“It’s just a really healthy way of life, I’ve always been a recycler…It’s a hard thing for people to get into because they’re not used to thinking about what they throw away,” Banks said. “We have to think about the future.”
I’ll admit I knew that there was something environmentally-friendly about composting, but, frankly, I didn’t know what. You’d think that having organic waste in landfills would aid in the breakdown of non-organic waste. Apparently that’s not the case. In a landfill, air cannot get to the organic waste, so as the waste breaks down it creates a greenhouse gas: methane. Methane is of course harmful to the atmosphere. On the other hand, when this same waste is composted above ground, oxygen helps the waste to decompose aerobically and hardly any methane is produced.
For those who live with a yard out back, by composting, you improve the quality of the soil. You end up with a natural fertilizer that provides a healthy soil with good drainage, soil that can better retain nutrients and moisture, and sustain aeration. Compost is a renewable resource; chemical fertilizer is not. By avoiding a chemical fertilizer (derived from petroleum) you are supporting a natural ecosystem.
Plants evolved thriving on the nutrient-rich rot in the soil. By creating a healthy soil, the need for irrigation and watering is reduced. The golden rule for gardening is to keep your soil healthy. I just made that up, being so-not-a-green-thumb that I actually have no thumbs – but it just sounds right. It’s a simple thing, a rotting process, as this raw, organic material decays into rich, black soil.
