Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Making the Most of Compost!!

Who knew!  There's actually an International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW).  It's celebrated the first full week of May...so be aware--Compost Awareness Week is here and now:  May 2nd to May 8th, 2010.

According to the EPA, approximately 1/4 of our garbage can waste is organic--food trash.  Compostable.  Think of your nearby landfill, then cut that in half by a fourth.  That's food trash, and at that size, it's huge.  

For nearly two years, we've made that composting commitment here in our house.  It stemmed from living a year as a teacher at Eagle Cove School, where lunch, snack, and even bathroom paper towel trash was collected and taken to our school composting heap.  After a year of instructing 8-year-olds what to do with their food waste, you think twice when you are making a salad at your home.  There's a lot of waste involved with celery ends, pepper innards, and the vines of vine-ripened tomatoes.  You start to see the volume.  You get to where you can't throw it away.  You start composting.

And you notice that it turns the 5th graders "compost eco-policemen" at Eagle Cove School into garbageologists who analyze what exactly it is you are throwing away, and exactly how much it weighs.  You smile at the extent of real life math experiences there are each week!

If you're still on the fence about composting, maybe these two articles are just enough to push you to the decomposable side.  You can click on the title above to go to the Composting Council website:   http://www.compostingcouncil.org/uploads/046af7e09c98f6a70fea78d28787f5a6.pdf. Plus there's also lots of good stuff at Earth 911's article "Compost Awareness Week: No More Excuses, Start Your Pile"  http://earth911.com/news/2010/05/03/compost-awareness-week-no-more-excuses-start-your-pile/


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