17 Benefits of Composting: Revolutionizing Waste Management for a Sustainable Future

What is Composting?

Composting is a process of turning organic materials like fruits and vegetable waste into soil-like matter called humus. It is often a fertilizer for crops. It is a natural way of recycling, conserving resources, reducing pollution, and helping in creating a sustainable life for humans.

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

That’s why the only solution to protect the environment is just under our feet. One of the most important things you can do to save the earth, soil, and the community is to compost. To provide better care to the soil, the composting process acts as a food source that gives nutrient-rich soil. 

One of the important benefits of composting is that it makes healthy soil more fertile and protects natural resources. It is pivotal that the land beneath our feet is protected and composting might just be the “soil-ution” that we all need for recycling nutrients. 

So, now that we know what is composting, let’s dive deeper to discover the incredible benefits to our environment and society.

Benefits for the Environment

1. Helps revitalize the local water sources

   Recycling landfill waste through the composting process can hold up to 20x in water. Compost helps to conserve water in different ways like porous infiltration and water retention. This helps in efficiently transferring water through the soil. It allows surrounding plants to maximize water and this saves money by reducing the amount of irrigation. 

2. Minimizes soil erosion

   One of the key benefits of composting is that it improves soil structure by increasing the organic matter in the compost pile. It binds the soil particles that act against erosion by reducing the impact of rainfall from particles being washed away.

   Compost provides essential nutrients to improve soil fertility. This helps in creating a favorable environment for plant growth. Healthy vegetation acts as a natural barrier against erosion. The roots bind in a place and minimize the risk of erosion caused due to wind and water. 

   This process can be used as a protective layer known as a mulching effect. This helps conserve moisture, reduces evaporation, and shields the soil from raindrops. Compost mulch minimizes the soil’s detachment and loss of valuable topsoil. 

3. Cleans polluted soils

   The compostable waste gives the ability to clean up polluted soils called bioremediation. This treatment is teeming with microorganisms. These microbes break down and transform them into less harmful forms of rendering. Through enzymes, microorganisms can degrade pollutants and reduce the concentration in the soil. 

   According to the US EPA, compost is able to help clean chlorinated and non-chlorinated hydrocarbons, wood-preserving chemicals, solvents, pesticides, explosives, petroleum products, and heavy metals. 

4. Reduces greenhouse gas emissions

   More than decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas that we produce, the use of compost on the soil will help to hide the carbon dioxide that is already present in the atmosphere. Compost is home to multiple plants that absorb nutrients.

   

   To keep these, plant roots release CO2 from their roots and attract the microbes under the soil. These plants take CO2 from the air and water from their roots and through photosynthesis, it turns into carbohydrates or sugar. 

5. Gives healthy soil 

   Compost improves the biological and chemical fertilizers of soil. This helps the plants to grow and support the surrounding ecosystem of worms, microbes, and others. It makes the soil better on a chemical basis by binding the heavy metals making them less available for plants. It also leads to the binding of the glue that sticks the soil to larger particles. 

Economic Benefits of Composting

6. Transforming organic waste into a product

   1.8 billion tonnes of food are lost or wasted annually. That amounts to one-third of the global food supply. A lot of that can be transformed into manure that can be sold and recycled. The utilization of the fertilizer prompts a more prolific landfill, which would give a superior profit.

   The gain is not limited to the final product alone. Heat is produced a lot by compost. This heat can be used to heat greenhouses, polytunnels, and houses to generate clean electricity. Assuming that we’re adequately courageous to utilize humanure, the open door turns out to be considerably greater. 

7. Minimizes production costs for farmers

   By utilizing manure, ranchers, and nursery workers spend less cash on costly composts and pesticides, water, and water system, Furthermore, they can utilize that cash for extending their creative limits. In addition, it has been demonstrated that fields that utilize compost yield more than those that do not. This implies more harvests to sell and more cash to be made.

8. Lowers the cost of food

   The term “agflation” refers to the worldwide trend of rising food costs over the past few decades. Manure can help by working on our dirt, diminishing the requirement for composts/pesticides, and lessening soil disintegration. The repercussions have been devastating, particularly for the world’s poorest consisting of:

   • Social agitation and mobs
   • Expanded expansion
   • Lack of healthy sustenance and sickness
   • An expansion in the passing rate – what the World Bank calls a Silent Tsunami

9. Reduces disposal costs

   Transportation and storage of trash, at least, are expensive. From $205 billion a year in 2010 to a projected $375 billion by 2025, worldwide expenses of waste removal are expanding. Local landfill costs have been shown to drop with composting. 

   If more businesses and local governments implemented composting programs, just imagine how much money we could save as a society!

Benefits for Soil 

10.  Moisture retention

    A sandy soil will allow water to evaporate too quickly. Through the course of accumulation, adding fertilizer prompts bigger soil particles that can hold more dampness. 

11.  Improved drainage

    Compost can also assist in drainage enhancement. That is also due to the aggregation process, which may appear odd considering that it can also hold more moisture.

    As particles in the dirt dilemma together, they open up more space between the particles. Water is carried into the soil through these pores. That is the reason manure-rich soils frequently have fewer puddles than other ground after weighty storms.

12.  More nutrients for your plants

    Adding compost to your soil makes nutrients more accessible to the soil. It accomplishes this in multiple ways. The compost slowly releases nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium into the ground as it continues to break down. The soil’s capacity to retain nutrients is improved as a result.

13.  Kills pathogens and weed seeds

    Eliminates pathogens and seeds from weeds as the bacteria multiply and become more active, causing the compost heaps to heat up. That heat can eradicate weed seeds as well as pathogens. Pathogens are killed in a number of ways, but heat is just one. Pathogens compete with beneficial microbes for resources, directly attack them, and even produce antibiotics.

Benefits to Human Health 

14.  Healthy soil is healthy food

    The fact of healthy soil is that it is connected with that of our own health. In fact, the examination of the soil has been a part of the medical evaluation in 400 BC. Plants take up both nutrients and micronutrients from the soil and then the human body uses the same. 

    This means that the plants grown in nutrient-rich soil amendment are better for human health than those plants that are grown in poor soil. This is why billions of people are suffering the multi-nutrient deficiency. 

15.  Fewer pests and diseases

    Better soil results in healthy plants that are more resistant to diseases and insect damage. It is not a new practice to use organic material to strengthen plants. All things considered, before we approached pesticides, we needed to utilize different techniques for beating nuisances down.

16.  Helps to improve mental health 

    Mycobacterium is a fascinating bacteria that is found in soil and compost. It helps lower inflammation in the brain and results in preventing post-traumatic stress disorder. Scientists are now researching bacteria to create medicine on the same. 

17.  Reduces the inflow of disease with clean water

    Dirty and polluted water negatively impacts the health of all. There are millions of deaths each year including children. Solving this problem of polluted water will need an integrated approach that addresses poverty and other issues. The ability to compost to filter water, and reduce the need for fertilizers can be one of its best solutions. 

With the above benefits, you would now know how beneficial it is to compost.

FAQs

Can I compost in the winter or cold climates?

Composting reduces landfill waste by diverting organic matter, decreases greenhouse gas emissions by preventing methane release, and helps conserve natural resources by recycling nutrients back into the soil.

How does composting contribute to soil health?

Composting improves soil fertility by providing essential nutrients, enhancing water retention to support plant growth, and promoting beneficial microbial activity that aids in nutrient cycling and disease suppression.

Is composting cost-effective for waste management companies?

Absolutely! Composting reduces waste disposal costs by diverting organic materials from expensive landfill disposal. It also creates potential revenue streams through the sale of high-quality compost and minimizes expenses associated with synthetic fertilizers.

What role does composting play in water conservation?

Composting improves soil structure, allowing it to retain water more effectively, reducing water runoff, and conserving precious water resources. This promotes efficient water use and helps prevent soil erosion.

Can composting help mitigate climate change?

Yes, indeed! Composting diverts organic waste from landfills, where it would decompose anaerobically and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By reducing methane emissions, composting contributes to climate change mitigation.

Conclusion

In our effort to dig out more about composting, we can save the environment and improve human health. That’s why we need to study in detail about the role of composting. With the increasing benefits of composting, it seems likely that the compost will be manufactured specifically for different purposes to treat the soil. 

The decomposition process provides huge benefits, whether used indoor or outdoor places to compost. Making compost is also a fun activity and offers a great sense of satisfaction to witness the waste turn gold in your own garden. Let’s start with the composting process to make a healthier environment.