Why Compost?

1. Why Compost? By: Noah Debroux

2. The purposes of composting • Keeps more garbage out of landfills • Takes advantage of the nutrients in things such as food waste and other things that we often throw away • The composted material can be used for fertilizer and for other purposes

3. What I have done Over the past two weeks, I have constructed a compost bin to collect the usable waste that my family produced. I have found that, while sometimes only small amounts were saved per day, over time the compost grew and a fair amount was saved in just 14 days.

4. How I did it I constructed a compost bin using scrap material I found in my garage. Each day I took compost material from a bag I kept it in and weighed it. I recorded the data and then emptied the contents into the compost bin. Later, I compiled the information and made graphs and observed the information.

5. What I have found On average, I collected about a pound of compost a day. The average waste per person per day is 4.6 pounds. While me and my family didn’t collect all that we could have, eventually the amount of compost grew over time.

6. If you do the math, I alone composted 1/6 of a pound each day. If this were considered the average amount, and if everyone in Hartland were to compost daily, there would be 1,449 pounds of compost each day. Multiply that number by 14 days and you have 20,286 pounds. If everyone in Wisconsin were to compost there would be 951,961 pounds in 14 days. For the US there would be 363,523.9 tons of compost in just 14 days.

7. What you can do It is not difficult to start composting. All you need is an open space outside and waste to compost. There are different ways to make a composting system; mainly you want to let the compost have air to vent and to keep it contained.

8. Things to Compost You can compost most foods except for dairy and meats (and a few others). Banana peels, apple cores, eggshells (not the yoke), and coffee grounds are all examples of things you can compost.