Did you know that, on the whole, UK recycling is on the decline? By now, all of us know how our actions impact the environment, and there’s been a huge push by the government and media to reduce household waste. Yet, we seem to be falling behind! Banana peels and toilet roll tubes are ending up in the landfill instead of being put to good use, and our limited resources are becoming even scarcer. So, if you’re thinking of taking up composting, there’s no better time to start than right now! To inspire you, we’ve put together some of the biggest benefits you could see if you start turning your satsumas into soil.
1. Create Free Compost For Your Garden
There’s no doubt that composting is a cost-effective method to level-up your gardening, from growing beautiful flowers to tasty veg. The startup costs can be very minimal, and if you’re on a tight budget, all you really need is a designated space in your garden to start a compost heap! If you’re able to splash a little more cash, you can invest in equipment to help improve your composting, including:
- An odour-proof bin for your kitchen
- A large compost bin for your outdoor space
- A hot compost bin for fast composting
Once your system is set up and you’ve started adding your waste, you’ll soon create free compost for your garden. When you consider that a large sack of compost (around 500-600 litres) can easily cost £100, you’ll make your initial investment back in no time! Both your wallet and garden will be very happy.
2. Create Compost to Sell
If you don’t have a garden, don’t despair! You can still cash in from your eco-friendly waste reduction, helping you earn back any money you put into setting up your compost. Other gardeners in your area will always be looking for fresh, local compost to nourish their flower beds. Advertise yours on local gardener pages on social media or hang an ad in your local corner shop and wait for the enquiries to come flooding in.
3. Reduce Your Household Waste
Aside from boosting your bank balance, there are a huge number of eco-friendly reasons that you should start composting. Using household food waste for compost avoids the growing spread of landfill and has a number of benefits for the environment, including reducing methane emissions and the carbon footprint of organic goods.
Each year, the average household could save 28% of waste sent to landfill by composting. A great way to inspire your composting journey is to monitor how many times a week you have to empty your kitchen bin. When you notice the frequency going down, you’re seeing your hard work in action!
4. Lower Your Greenhouse Gas Emissions
By now, we all know that if we want to save the planet and halt the damage of climate change, we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. From switching to renewable energy providers to cutting down on meat consumption, there are lots of ways to help lower greenhouse gas emissions. Composting, though, is one of the lesser-known methods that can have a big impact.
As food breaks down in landfills, it produces a whole lot of methane that enters our atmosphere. This is largely due to a lack of airflow which allows methane-producing microbes to thrive as your food decays. When composting, though, your food is provided with oxygen which keeps these microbes at bay and also helps with gas sequestration in soil, storing harmful carbon dioxide and methane to keep it away from our atmosphere.
5. Reduce Your Consumption of Resources
As though there weren’t already enough eco-friendly reasons to start composting, it’s also a great way to reduce your consumption of resources. Chucking away your food waste doesn’t just clog up landfills, it also uses valuable resources to transport it from your home to its final destination. Have you ever considered the emissions produced from simply driving your waste around?
If you already use compost, you’ll also help reduce shipping emissions in the delivery of soil from around the world, too. By creating it in your garden, you’re cutting out a whole lot of carbon-emitting logistics.
6. Create High-Quality Compost
Any gardener will agree that home-created compost is always the best. It’s far superior to the chemical-filled, cheap compost from supermarkets and gardening shops, providing you with organic, high-quality soil for your eco-friendly garden. Just remember to add a nice mix of wet materials, like organic food waste, coffee and tea grounds, and plant cuttings, as well as dry materials, like crisp leaves, paper, and straw.
7. Composting is Fun!
Last but not least, composting at home is super fun! Setting up systems to turn your waste into something useful is undeniably rewarding, and the benefits of getting outside and amongst nature are endless. You also become more aware of the endless loop between creation and waste, and will grow to appreciate watching nature at work.
Final Words
Composting has a huge array of benefits, and these are just some of our favourites. To uncover more, there’s nothing left to do but start turning your food waste into something more useful! Just remember to only put in waste that’s suitable for your compost for a happy, healthy garden.
