Why do people care about composting?

http://www.epa.gov/composting/benefits.htm

Many towns sell the compost and use it to offset some of the costs of trash removal. It also greatly reduces the amount of organic material sent to landfills, which extends the life of those landfills.

@Rarebear still seems like a waste of time and money.

@viragorider Hokay.

@Rarebear It’s not like they’re refining into fuel. It’s still just good dirt.

@viragorider there are programs attempting to refine it into fuel. Without the nutrients in the compost, you will need chemical fertilizers to replenish the soil that has been damaged by over use.

Those chemical fertilizers come in large part from oil.

Your town likely wants to cut down on the amount of material that goes into land-fill dumps.

Composting works for me very well and saves me a lot of money. I live on a ½ acre lot which is mostly gassy lawn bordered by many trees. Our property generates a huge amount of grass clippings, tree clippings, leaves etc per year and it would cost a pile of money to pay to have it all hauled away. I simply spread the plant material around the plants and let the worms, insects, fungi, bacteria etc break it down and return minerals and nutrients back into the soil to be utilized by the plants (with no added chemicals). Also the compost discourages weed growth. So I save money and the plants get fed. It is a natural and ecologically sound solution.

@viragorider That “dirt” is what our food grows in, in terms of ingesting food I would suggest the purer the growing medium the better.

This question reminds me of Idiocracy. “Water? Like out of the toilet?”

When I first came to the United States in 1988, I wondered why the fridges are three times as big and dumpsters are ten times as big as the one’s we use over here, while enjoying the same level of quality of life. We also use half of the energy per capita, while enjoying a comfortable life.

So it’s no surprise that even in the year 2013 a few people fail to see the bigger picture and actually boycott good ideas by “never opening the lid”. Shocking.

The answers above show why composting is so important. Soils become depleted of essential components such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. We can reduce the production of artificial fertilizers by using natural fertilizers.

How is it a waste of time? Just how much time do you spend on this process?

I compost, and I’ve cut my city trash pick up by about 10–15%. I also use the resultant soil in my tomato beds.

(Your town picks up compost? Are you sure about that?)

@syz recycling is mandatory where I live. Composting is voluntary.

I could see putting grass clippings in the bin. But no way am I saving rotten food to make dirt.

I throw all veggie and fruit waste, egg shells,tea bags, and coffee grounds into a large plastic bowl on my kitchen counter per day. Time:3 minutes.

When bowl is full I walk to the edge of my woods and dump it. Time; 6 minutes.

Once a month I go out and give the pile a poke with a pitchfork. Time 8 minutes.

In the spring I do not buy mulch or dried compost from my garden center. Time saved; 20 minutes driving; Cash saved:$15.00

I take trash to the transfer station half as often as I used to. Driving time and gas savings; a lot.

I don’t think @viragorider will return…