What’s so special about PURPOD100™?
Its importance in composting is just one special element of the new pod. Composting is a way of dealing with food waste and lawn and garden waste so those materials don’t go into landfills or other waste disposal systems, never to be of value again. When waste materials are composted a rich humus is formed that can be used to improve soil in ways that are very beneficial for the growth of new food and landscaping plants.
Composting is sometimes called ‘organics recycling’ because the only materials that can be composted are plants or made from plants including ones used to create specially designed resins. Through the composting process, those plants and plant-based materials are essentially recycled as they turn into the humus that helps to grow the next generation of plants through enriched soil.
However the organics recycling through composting is very different from recycling of cans, bottles, and paper products. Those materials go through an industrial process in which they are reprocessed in a way that turns them into raw material that can be put back to work in the manufacturing of new cans, bottles, and paper products. In composting, microorganisms and fungi – microscopic living things – do the work. They feed on parts of the food waste and yard or garden waste. They leave behind some of the highly fibrous material along with their waste and dead cells. This mix of fibrous material and animal and fungal wastes is what makes compost such a great soil amendment for farms and backyards.
Because composting is carried out by living organisms rather than by industrial machines there can be substantial differences between one composting facility and another. Even the types of microorganisms vary among the composting facilities operating in widely different climates all over North America. But composting facilities do have key elements in common: they all require moisture; air; temperature; and an appropriate mix of carbon and nitrogen in the materials being composted. Future blog posts will offer more details on these and other aspects of the composting process.