Thursday, March 20, 2008

Composting confusion

I'm reading Real Simple at lunch and and glancing at their article on How Green Are You. There is a chart of greenie activities, one being "Compost A Fifth Of Your Garbage" which I do, maybe 1/2 of my garbage. But part of the reasoning, struck me as stupid:
"..Plus, composting food scraps, like apple cores, keeps them out of landfills, where they can break down to release a potent greenhouse gas."
....so what is that apple core doing in my composter if not breaking down? And I'm sure it is off gassing something, particularly when I haven't balanced it with the browns. Maybe I'm missing something. Does an apple core become dangerous in a landfill but not so in my backyard composter?
My other problem with the article is there is no mention of mercury in CFLs bulbs. You gotta be careful with them and dispose of them properly when the day comes when they burn out.
While I'm on the topic of compost and gardening. I did not realize how wonderful my soil is until I started hacking away in someone else's yard. Over the years I've been living at my house, I have amended the soil, put down lots of compost and other organic matter and after the rains it is soft and rich. The other yard, a big mass of heavy wet clay.

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1 Comments:

At 3/21/2008 4:01 PM, Blogger DC said...

and in most yards in the area you will find rocks and other debris, especially in newer homes where often times the builder will just turn the soil to get ride of all the industrial waste from construction.

Our neighbors found alomst four feet of insulation buried in their yard only a few inches down!

James

 

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