Composting your way to health.

http://www.greentimes.com.au/recycling-waste/composting-your-way-to-health.html



Composting your way to health


Written by Vivien Kappos
Friday, 12 June 2009
composting healthOn average, each Australian family’s food and garden waste generates almost one tone of greenhouse gases each year. Composting organic garden waste and kitchen scraps in your own backyard is not only free, but contributes significantly to improving the health of our environment and is healthy for us too.



We Australians generate a massive 32 million tonnes of waste each year... Yes that’s right, and 29% of this is our household generated waste. Big dirty, lifestyle piles that produce greenhouse gases: the worst being methane gas. Methane gas is said to be 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The sheer volume and size of this contaminated anaerobic waste has become another environmental issue that needs repair. And, let’s not forget the other greenhouse gas costs incurred in collecting and transporting the waste to landfill sites to start with. On average, each Australian family’s food and garden waste generates almost one tone of greenhouse gases each year.
Recycling organic waste
And although there are landfill strategies and plans in place to reduce these harmful effects on the environment, wouldn’t it be smarter for us to reduce the amount of organic waste arriving at landfill sites in the first place. The good news is that there is a growing trend and involvement in recycling organic waste in our own backyards, thus reducing the amount of green waste entering landfill. The practice of composting is not a new idea. The Bible even gives mention to its benefits.


Composting organic garden waste and kitchen scraps in your own backyard is not only free, but contributes significantly to improving the health of our environment and healthy for us too. The psychological and health benefits of gardening practices are considered by many professionals as a natural therapy. Health and fitness for connecting the body, mind and soul and by now everybody knows the health benefits associated with Vitamin D and sensible exposure to the sun. So all garden clippings (with some weedy exceptions) and vegetable scraps from your kitchen (oh and nothing cooked please, no meat, no dairy and go easy on the citrus peelings) can be recycled and converted into a rich reusable resource by composting.

Free natural fertilizer for your plants
Well-balanced healthy and odourless compost is made up of 3 basic elements: Oxygen - Carbon - Nitrogen. Oxygen is for aeration – high Carbon materials such as dry leaves, shredded newspaper and straw – and Nitrogen which is derived from all the recycled green waste. Follow this simple rule of thumb and the carbon dioxide that is produced will be far less harmful to you and the environment than the methane that would be produced from the same waste going to landfill. Composting can be fun. Involve the kids, get outside and enjoy the fresh air. You don't necessarily need a big garden to achieve results: set up a worm farm on the balcony or start a communal compost heap on the ground somewhere. After a couple of months, your recycling efforts will be rewarded with a rich chocolate blend that is ready to be dug into the soil. Your home made compost will improve nutrient and fertility levels, increase moisture holding capacity, encourage earthworm activity and beneficial bacteria (micro flora and fauna) as well as improve general soil structure.


With rising costs of everyday living and financial stress that seems to loom overhead, why wouldn’t you want to make that difference and give back to the earth what nature created in the first place? Before you know it, you’ll be growing your own tasty home grown vegetables and herbs ...What are you doing with your kitchen peelings tonight?
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