The process in which microbes create compost is by decomposing organic matter, such as: vegetation, food scraps, manure, ashes, sawdust, hair and fur, along with tea bags. Composting can dramatically improve soil quality which is why it is referred to as “Black Gold”. High volume composting efforts created by municipalities can reduce disposing of garbage, food waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, this helps create a cherishing and conserving effort to a highly valued natural resource which is soil.
High quality soil contains mixtures of water, air, microbes, minerals, organic matter, and trace elements. Poor soil may contain less organic material or fewer microbes, which in turn makes the microbes less active and less helpful for utilizing plant compounds. Additionally, poor soil has difficulty in holding water, and is incapable of decomposing organic material and converting into usable fortifying compounds for new growth.
To help recover degraded soil and turn it healthy this requires feeding the microbial population. To diagnose this issue the microbial population would need new organic material or animal tissues in order to start up the break down and recycle process.
To aid in recovering low quality soil and transform it into healthy soil this requires providing feeding materials for the microbial population. To pinpoint this problem the microbial population requires new organic matter or animal tissues necessary to initiate the break down and recycle process.
When gardeners apply compost to soil, the composition of organic materials in the compost serves as a sponge for the absorption of water. In addition, it also serves as a reservoir for essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other micronutrients necessary for plant growth.
The question arises where if compost serves a great resource, why is there not people creating their own? This can be pinpointed to the fact that high quality soil can be a luxury. Furthermore, this requires dedicating time for setting up a compost pile, which would require continual maintenance through applying green and brown organic matter at the correct time intervals, and routinely watering the pile and turning the pile over weekly in the summer or winter seasons.
Composting also requires tools and building materials which every aspiring gardener may not have or can afford. Composting requires the necessary space, and a regulatory setting that enables residents to make compost piles, of which may produce odors and attract vermin if the compost pile are not managed correctly.
Collectively, these factors are raising interest and awareness in local composting programs, where a community collects and processes residential organic materials. Typically, these programs accept yard and food waste from residential housing, businesses, schools, and restaurants and in turn create a scalable professionally ran composting facility.
In regards to U.S. cities, the leaders in promoting large scale urban composting efforts recognizably include cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and Berlington to say the least. However, these initiatives rely on local directives which either offer incentives or requires businesses in the restaurant sector or other contributors to large scale food waste to compost food waste instead of disposing it and sending it to landfills.
Municipal composting efforts needs the support of consumers to gain and retain funding along with other resources. Extreme land needs, especially in urban environments can initiate municipalities to sell underutilized or underfunded community areas for commercial use especially when nearby neighborhoods lack social capital necessary to advocate for themselves and influence others.
Supporting community based food production along with recycling waste through composting proves to be beneficial in many ways. Accordingly, this creates jobs, expands accessibility to healthy produce, improves local environments through garbage reduction, and mitigates climate change. One of the best aspects is that investing in local agriculture stimulates and boosts the local economy, primarily for those individuals suffering financially or physiologically, especially when seeking out safe and affordable nutritious food.
Within a short time-spand, the coronavirus pandemic has changed numerous American citizens relationships in regards to food. To alleviate the stress related to shopping safely for food and providing food security, numerous people and families have begun planting “victory gardens”. However, this is a tradition that is traced back to prior generations who constructed home gardens during the World Wars.
Overall, interest was relatively high even prior to the declaration of the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, the National Gardening Association stated in 2014 that 42 million American households where about 1 out of 3 households grew some form of food, either in community gardens or at home.
Home gardening is not always an easy task. Poor soil quality will compromise vegetable growth and yield production. It is also worth noting that a high number of gardeners, particularly in lower income communities, have no access to resources for improving soil quality.
There are researchers who analyzed the scientific power of microbes in observational settings which include a manipulated environment, forest soils and permafrost, and agricultural soils along with digestive systems. From the research perspective, the present moment at hand welcomes major public investments in the sector of composting.
In high quality soil, some of the nutritional requirements are derived from cultivating plants that correct carbon from sunlight and distribute approximately half of it, through the soil, in the form of sugars. During this process an exchange will be made in which the microbial population will provide other nutrients that plants cannot acquire individually on their own accord.
A microbial population sheltering in soil also feeds on old organic matter, for instance any organic materials such as dead roots and dry leaves. A cutting edge biochemical analysis suggests that when microbes reach the end of their microscopic lives, they add to the quality of the organic soil.
To make high quality soil this requires mixing green plant materials like vegetable or fruit peels, leaves, straw, etc… with brown organic matter such as soil or manure. As the weeks turn to months, microbes transform the mix into compost which resembles soil.
During this process heat is produced as the microbial population breaks chemical bonds in plant materials in turn releasing energy. Internally, compost piles can reach temperatures of up to 170 degrees fahrenheit. Additionally, the heat exterminates potential microbial pathogens that may attach themselves to manure applications.
Municipal efforts to compost helps communities through saving money by converting waste from landfills into viable materials. Composting efforts also promotes sustainability by reducing methane emissions, which is a powerful greenhouse gas released in landfills when waste decomposes due to the absence of oxygen.
In addition, numerous municipal programs reward participants through a specified volume of viable compost as compensation for the waste provided.
It is encouraged that people with the necessary resources and time give composting a try. However, supporting and creating municipal composting efforts is necessary for the meaningful and gradual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions created from food waste along with increasing the access to high quality soil.
Composting programs are commonly available through local community farms or gardens. Many private companies implement a local compost pickup service.
