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What happens to your left-over food scraps from the kitchen? Thrown in the trash bin maybe? What about the grass clipping from your yard? Any of the clippings make their way to the street or road, then maybe down the stormdrain? What if these items could help you become rich? Soil rich!
The answer?
Composting! The compost pile loves all those food scraps, yard waste and more. A compost pile can literally be a pile on the ground or stored in a bin.
When the items start to break down, smell can be a factor so keep in mind when determining pile or bin and where it’s placed. The compost wants a good mix of the greens (kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and grass clippings) and the browns (dry leaves, twigs, paper, and card board).
Avoid adding meats, dairy, oils or pet waste. These smells are tempting for animals to investigate the compost.
IMPORTANT – Pet waste should not be put in the bin as it does not get warm enough to break down all the bacteria in it. Depending on the method chosen for breaking down the food/yard waste, composted soil could be ready in as little as 3 months with active turning and moisture. Or as long as 12 months with the just dump and forget method.
Once the composting has completed you are now rich! This compost going back to the soil can help in a number of ways. It helps the soil have more organic matter and reduce soil compaction. With the additional organic matter, plants grow bigger and healthier. Bigger and healthier plants are able to pull more carbon dioxide in. This is called carbon sequestration. Also, composted matter helps with soil erosion by preventing valuable and fertile top soil from being eroded away.
But it goes beyond just helping the soil. When food scraps are placed in the compost pile and not the trash that’s less going into landfills. When yard clippings go in to the compost bin, it helps prevent the clippings from going into the street then into the stormdrains. We want to protect our stormdrains with only rain going down the drain as most drain to the river.
Want to know more on composting? Join our FREE workshop!
July 27th, 206 at the Washington County Career Center on St Rt 676, starting at 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to Alexis at 741-885-3289 or acoffman@wcgov.org.
Alexis Coffman is Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District’s education specialist.