Green Living and Saving Money At Home: The Importance of Composting
A greener lifestyle at home is a key step in going green and saving money as well.
In addition to the energy-saving and water-saving steps you can take, reducing waste is also important.
Setting up a home composting pile or bin is a great way to reduce the waste you generate every day.
Composting takes ordinary organic waste materials of the kind you generate every day and turns them into soil and nutrients for your yard and garden.
Rather than putting vegetable cuttings, banana peels, and other typical items of waste from kitchen into your trash, where they then most likely wind up in a landfill, toss them into a small bucket in your kitchen.
At the end of each day, empty the bucket into your compost bin or compost pile.
Composting is one of the easiest things you can do to go green.
It requires very little effort on your part.
You are simply allowing Mother Nature to do what she already can do without any help from you: naturally degrade all sorts of organic materials back into compost which can provide a healthy and nutrient-rich source soil for the growth of new plants.
How do you get started? My recommendation is to use a compost bin.
By retaining your compostable materials in a bin rather than in an open pile you maintain heat, which speeds up the composting process, and reduce odors, for which your neighbors will definitely thank you and for which you may be grateful as well.
Finally, a closed bin helps to keep out unwanted animals, which could raid your compost pile to get the most recent additions.
Setting up a compost bin is remarkably easy.
Your local community may have a composting program in place.
If so, you can attend a composting seminar to get the basics on setting up your bin and, as a "reward" you can go home with a composting bin for a discounted price, or in some cases, absolutely free.
My town is one that offers a free bin to all residents who attend a one and one-half hour session in which the basic principles of composting are taught.
The bin that is provided is made of 100% recycled plastic and holds when full a large wheel barrow's worth of compost.
You can compost a wide range of organic items.
Almost any plant waste, including grass clippings and yard waste as well as waste from preparing fruit and vegetables in your kitchen, can be used.
You can include tea bags and coffee grounds, including even the coffee filters.
What about pasta and bread crumbs? No problem.
Egg shells? Absolutely.
Even shredded paper and napkins can be included.
About the only type of waste you should keep out of your compost bin is meat waste.
Rotting meat has an unpleasant odor that will attract rats and other animal pests and when it decays it can promote the growth of bacterial pathogens that you would like to keep out of your garden.
Otherwise, almost anything goes.
A balanced compost is best, mixing roughly equal amounts of green and brown items.
You will reduce waste from your home, improve the quality of fruit and vegetables in your garden, and save money on soil amendments for your garden.
And your compost is all-organic, allowing you to be sure that the food items you raise are chemical free.
Composting is one of the simplest steps toward a greener, healthier lifestyle that will also help you save money.
In addition to the energy-saving and water-saving steps you can take, reducing waste is also important.
Setting up a home composting pile or bin is a great way to reduce the waste you generate every day.
Composting takes ordinary organic waste materials of the kind you generate every day and turns them into soil and nutrients for your yard and garden.
Rather than putting vegetable cuttings, banana peels, and other typical items of waste from kitchen into your trash, where they then most likely wind up in a landfill, toss them into a small bucket in your kitchen.
At the end of each day, empty the bucket into your compost bin or compost pile.
Composting is one of the easiest things you can do to go green.
It requires very little effort on your part.
You are simply allowing Mother Nature to do what she already can do without any help from you: naturally degrade all sorts of organic materials back into compost which can provide a healthy and nutrient-rich source soil for the growth of new plants.
How do you get started? My recommendation is to use a compost bin.
By retaining your compostable materials in a bin rather than in an open pile you maintain heat, which speeds up the composting process, and reduce odors, for which your neighbors will definitely thank you and for which you may be grateful as well.
Finally, a closed bin helps to keep out unwanted animals, which could raid your compost pile to get the most recent additions.
Setting up a compost bin is remarkably easy.
Your local community may have a composting program in place.
If so, you can attend a composting seminar to get the basics on setting up your bin and, as a "reward" you can go home with a composting bin for a discounted price, or in some cases, absolutely free.
My town is one that offers a free bin to all residents who attend a one and one-half hour session in which the basic principles of composting are taught.
The bin that is provided is made of 100% recycled plastic and holds when full a large wheel barrow's worth of compost.
You can compost a wide range of organic items.
Almost any plant waste, including grass clippings and yard waste as well as waste from preparing fruit and vegetables in your kitchen, can be used.
You can include tea bags and coffee grounds, including even the coffee filters.
What about pasta and bread crumbs? No problem.
Egg shells? Absolutely.
Even shredded paper and napkins can be included.
About the only type of waste you should keep out of your compost bin is meat waste.
Rotting meat has an unpleasant odor that will attract rats and other animal pests and when it decays it can promote the growth of bacterial pathogens that you would like to keep out of your garden.
Otherwise, almost anything goes.
A balanced compost is best, mixing roughly equal amounts of green and brown items.
You will reduce waste from your home, improve the quality of fruit and vegetables in your garden, and save money on soil amendments for your garden.
And your compost is all-organic, allowing you to be sure that the food items you raise are chemical free.
Composting is one of the simplest steps toward a greener, healthier lifestyle that will also help you save money.