Celebrate Earth Day with Mother Compost

I increasingly noticed that our family was throwing away tons of food and wanted to find a way to combat it. When I started composting on my own, I found it a bit challenging and just another chore that I had trouble maintaining. I looked for a service and my quick search came up empty. At that moment, I decided to start one. I found out later there was a service, Kitchen Harvest, who we now partner with to process our materials. But in many ways, I am glad my initial search yielded no results, as it left room for the idea to take root & grow.

I believe that composting is a very simple & effective way to reduce waste and create a more circular waste system. I also believe that lots of people would be willing to try if it could be easy for them. That’s our goal at Mother Compost – to make composting super easy through excellent service that includes cleaning containers, reminders and compost return each spring. We also offer educational programming for those who want to try composting on their own.  Our mission is to help people compost, however, it works best for them.

There are two sides of composting that explain why composting is a vital change we should be making with our organic waste.

First, it redirects food waste from landfills. Food waste is currently the single largest category of waste filling our landfills today. In 2018 it was estimated to be approximately 22% of the 292.4 million tons we discarded in the US. Imagine if we could instead recycle those materials?

Most people do not realize that food or organic waste cannot biodegrade naturally in a landfill environment. Landfills seal layers of trash with plastic to eliminate pests & odor. But that sealing process also eliminates oxygen, which is necessary for organic materials to biodegrade via aerobic digestion. Instead, these materials undergo something called anaerobic digestion, which causes them to release methane gas, a greenhouse gas 20-30% more potent than CO2.

Secondly, when organic materials are separated from “regular trash” and composted, they turn into a nutrient-rich soil amendment that returns beneficial microorganisms back to our soils. The difference between soil & dirt is that good soil is alive with a variety of microorganisms and nutrients, whereas dirt is degraded soil with little to no nutrient value or bacteria. ⠀

It is important to keep a diverse range of microorganisms in our soils as they help plants fight off pests. Additionally, the more nutrients you have in your soil, the more nutrients our plants will have an opportunity to absorb. This benefits us as then our food supply will be full of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables.