Every day we are in a habit, or in other words a process, of throwing items away in the trash. All of us have been introduced to or informed about recycling at some point in our live and are aware of what that is. You put trash in one bin while we separate paper, plastic and glass in others. The Paper Industry Association Council found that in 2008, 57.4 percent of paper that was consumed by the U.S. was reported being recycled (What Is the Impact of Recycling Paper?). Pretty impressive right? Well, one way to continue in the environmental sustainability efforts is through another process known as composting. “Composting is an aerobic (oxygen-dependent) degradation process by which plants (leaves, vegetable trimmings, lawn clippings, and similar garden debris) and other organic wastes (kitchen refuse, sludge) decompose under controlled conditions” (Environmental Facts Sheet).
Composting has been in practice for decades on a small scale by residents in their backyards, larger agricultural industries on their fields and naturally by the planet itself. “Composting has occurred since plants first existed on the earth. When leaves and fruit fall from trees, and when plants die, they drop to the ground, enriching the soil through the process of natural decomposition” (Bell). According to the US EPA, “as much as 65% of grass and yard trimmings (leaves, brush) are being composted. While this is a significant achievement, more than 60 million tons of solid waste -- food scraps and soiled/wet paper -- are still being sent to landfills”(Municipal Composting Programs). This is such a large number of waste, due to the fact that many people to not recycle of compost. The only other optional location for the trash to go is the landfill.
Now composting is becoming available to residential areas provided by their cities. A community, under their local government, has the power to help their towns “go green” by recycling their used organic waste. These items can consist of yard foliage such as twigs, leaves and grass that property owners collect to be composted (Bell). The composting program allows any natural materials to be collected by the city and broken down so that it can be put back into the soil. The idea is to reuse the natural materials that came from the earth in order to help the land. Depending on the season, the composting materials change but it still has a positive effect on the environment. During the warmer months grass and leaves are compostable unlike the winter months where materials from indoors, like food scraps are only accessible. Some city programs allow for food scraps while others can only collect yard foliage. It just depends on the cities regulations. After the material is composted, the city can offer to sell the compost back to any residents who want to reuse it on their property (Bell). This program allows the city to sell the compost for a low cost to the residents since it is their material that is being reused. It also allows for the residence of the city to dispose their waste while the city collects and composts for them (Bell).
This type of municipal composting program is popping up across the country in huge success. In 2002, the city of San Francisco’s production of solid waste totaled 1,882,490 tons; 702,012 tons of that waste was placed into a landfill. That means that over 1,180,478 tons of material was able to be composted and recycled, so it was not all sent to a landfill (Miller). More than half of the items we throw away do not have to be sent to a landfill and can be reused. Landfills are piling up and running out of room for more waste to be included. With the amount of waste increasing due to our growing populations, we are expecting to see a shortage in landfills within the next ten years (Landfills: Environmental Problems). The alternative to filling landfills would be to help the environment and compost the materials that are available. In Rapid City, South Dakota, a new $7.2 million dollar composting facility was constructed in 2003 due to the overwhelming success of their previous program (Miller). They tested out the composting program with their city and the residents greatly took to it. They then decided that a larger facility was needed to keep up with the popularity of the program. President of the Alliance of Architects and Engineers of Rapid City, Dallas Wasserburger, stated, “We designed the Rapid City composting hall to handle projected volumes 20 years into the future. At full capacity, we will be composting more than 213 tons of material per day” (Miller).
(Green composting bins are provided to residents by the city)
Not only is the popularity of programs in the U.S. increasing, but they are emerging in Canada as well. The city of Ottawa, Canada is providing their residents with the equipment needed to contribute to the composting process. They are equipped with large green trash can like containers to fill with organic waste that are picked up once a week by the city. “Unlike regular backyard composting, you can put almost anything in your green bin (this is because the large scale composting facilities that are used allow the organic matter to reach much higher temperatures, breaking things down faster than backyard heaps” (Richard). The higher temperatures break down materials such as dairy products, and sterilize the matter so that it is reusable. This would not be able to occur in backyard composting. The “green bin” process of composting helps the environment a lot, but partaking in the program also saves the taxpayer money (Richard). "By extending the life of our landfills, we can delay sourcing and setting up new landfills - a very expensive proposition" (Richard). Taxpayer’s money goes into paying for the costs to build landfills and composting facilities. Today a landfill costs around $93 million to build. (Wong). In other words, landfill costs more than 12 times that of the $7.2 million dollars it takes to build a composting facility which was previously stated in this essay.
(Landfills are piling up, but we we are running out of room for the waste)
Many cities are offering municipal composting to their residents and making it a law to participate in the act. The benefits of composting are continuous. The compost helps the earth by giving back the nutrients that are in the material and give the city residents healthier ground to raise their produce. Though it takes a lot of money to start up facilities to power the composting process, it saves money in the long run. Taxpayers save money for garbage disposal and the city saves in transportation runs to the landfills. Both benefit from saving more money to build expensive landfills. The landfills do not pile up and create a greater harm to the environment. Overall, municipal composting is a huge success for our plant and its sustainability. These composting programs should go into effect in all cities across our nation.
Works Cited
Bell, Ellen. “Municipal Composting Programs – A Way to Go Green.” Web. 22
February 2011.
“Environmental Facts Sheet: Municipal Composting of Yard Waste”. New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. 2007. Web. 23 February 2011.
“Landfills: Environmental Problems”. IPPTS Associates – The Landfill Site. 2000-2011. Web. 25 February
2011.
Miller, James. “Municipal Composting Gains Acceptance; Provides Relief for Landfills”. May 2004. Web.
23 February 2011.
“Municipal Composting Programs”. Biodegradable Products Institute. 2003-2011. Web. 22 February
2011.
Richard, Michael Graham. “Ottawa's "Green Bin" Municipal Composting Program is About to Take Off. 21 October 2009. Web. 23 February 2011. Picture.
Sassoon, Adriana. “Fashion Landfills”. Web. 28 February 2011. Picture.
Sen, Debashree. “What Is the Impact of Recycling Paper?” Web. 23 February 2011.
Wong, Nicole. “The Forbidding Cost of a Landfill”. 28 May 2010. Web. 28 February 2011.
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