FOOD AND OTHER ORGANIC WASTE MAKE UP AN
ESTIMATED 40% - 50% OF ALL HO-- USEHOLD WASTE.
Many local governments and waste management services now have organic waste programs that collect from our curbsides or at local depots. They take the food and other waste that used to go to landfills and turn it into compost that enriches our soil.
With much less going into landfills, local governments can avoid the cost and community environmental impacts of creating new landfill sites.
Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced from the amount released if organic waste decomposes in landfills and the gases escape into the air.
The organic waste is converted to create products such as fertilizer, compost and other soil amendment products that improve the access of plants to water and air in the soil to improve their growth.
Some organic waste processing facilities are designed to capture gases such as methane for use as fuel.
THERE ARE TWO MAIN APPROACHES TO MUNICIPAL AND COMMERCIAL COMPOSTING AND FOOD, LEAF & YARD WASTE PROGRAMS.
In aerobic composting, the organic materials are usually placed in long piles or enclosed boxes. They are kept very moist and warm. Oxygen often flows continuously into the pile. This encourages microorganisms to break down those materials.
Depending on conditions, the compost can be ready to be put to work to improve the soils for new plant growth after a few weeks.
In anaerobic digestion systems, the organic materials are put into sealed chambers. Othertypes of microorganisms break the materials down to create biogases such as methane used for renewable energy.
After the anaerobic process is done, any remaining organic matter from the chamber often goes through aerobic composting or is used directly to enrich agricultural soils
Millions of people use home and backyard composting to generate the compost they use around their own homes and gardens and to reduce their own environmental footprint. PURPOD100™ has been certified to break down in most large scale industrial or commercial composting facilities. Testing is just beginning to determine how well it works in home and backyard composters, especially as local climate and individual composting practices can influence results.
