Why is compost so important?

Answer 1

Compost is good for the environment, because it reducesthe amount of solid waste that goes into landfills. There are two kinds of decomposition: aerobic and anaerobic. Materials break down in landfills by anaerobic decomposition, which takes place without enough air and without oxygen. The consequences are the landfill's hallmark foul odors and its production of such greenhouse gases as methane. Aerobic decomposition is the breakdown of compostable materials in the presence of sufficient air, heat, light, moisture, and oxygen. It produces neither smells nor gases. Instead, it results in dark brown, fresh-smelling, organic matter-rich humus. Backyard composting thus recycles trash into quality soil without any of the landfill's side effects. Humus has many uses that range from reuse as natural fertilizer, to organic mulch, to soil amendment. Whatever the use, it restores some of the 17-18 nutrients that healthy soils need to support healthy plants. Healthy soil amended, fertilized and mulched by compost has good aeration, drainage and fertility. It also has a healthy soil food web life with bacteria and fungi to hold soil particles together, earthworms to open up passageways, ground beetles to process dead and decaying organisms, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria and nematodes to make inaccessible nutrients available. Consequently, healthy soil encourages healthy plant growth. Healthy plants better withstand environmental stresses such as drought, and stressors such as diseases and pests. They thereby require fewer controls. And the less chemicals in the environment, the better environmental and human health.

Answer 2

Compost is an all natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. It doesn't leach into the rivers and waterways like chemical fertilizer does.

Compost contains many micro-nutrients as well as the basic three - nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium - which support microorganisms in the soil. The microorganisms in the soil break down organic matter, regulate the pH of the soil, and create a chemical environment in which all the nutrients are more easily available to the plants.

Compost also improves the tilth of the soil by improving its biodiversity. Bacteria and fungi from compost secrete colloidal "glues", which bind soil particles together in a water-absorbing matrix that helps with water retention and drainage, and allows oxygen to penetrate deeper into the soil. This, in turn, allows air-breathing organisms to penetrate deeper into the soil, and gives plants a deeper root zone.

Compost also helps the environment because it diverts food-scraps and kitchen waste away from landfill where it would decompose anaerobically (without air), thus producing methane, a greenhouse gas 26 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide.

People use compost because they want to build up their soil and to add natural nutrients, instead of chemical nutrients, to the soil. One of the most important reasons for using compost is that it is all natural and beneficial when growing organically.

So composting helps the environment and gives some excellent material for your garden.

Answer 3

That it is environmentally friendly and that it numbers among do-it-yourself projects which do not stress household budgets are reasons why compost is so important. As dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich organic matter produced by human or natural interventions, compost makes soils healthier by improving soil aeration, fertility, and percolation; reducing the amount of household wastes ending up in greenhouse gas-generating, methane-producing landfills; and serving as homemade -- not store-bought -- organic soil amendments, fertilizers, and mulches.

Answer 4

Improvement in environmental quality is the benefit of composting. The organic breakdown of compostable materials into dark-looking, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich humus results from reducing what goes into landfills and -- in do-it-yourself ways -- resorting to organic ways of improving a soil's aeration, fertility, drainage, and weed-control.

Answer 5

Supporting the action of soil food web members is a reason for watering compost. As the dark-colored, fresh-smelling, nutrient-rich end-product of composting compostable recyclables, compost needs water -- to the degree of moistness of a wrung-out sponge, not to the point of waterlogging -- for the same reasons as soil does: to enter pore spaces; to help moisture circulation, infiltration, and percolation; and to make available nutrients accessible in soluble form.

Answer 6

Composting is good for your garden and good for the earth.