Compost System Essay

Overview An at home compost system is easier to build and maintain than it appears. Home composting systems can be created and maintained in a few easy steps: choosing and preparing a location, collecting greens and browns as well as occasionally applying moisture, adding green waste, turning the pile and keeping the pile covered. A compost system can easily made and although maintaining a compost system is a long term project, the only long term step is simply collecting elements for the compost. If successfully built and maintained, the compost system can produce rich humus which improves can be added to soil to improve the size and health of gardens.

Special Terms

Browns. Browns are anything the color brown or recyclable. This may include:

Once the humus is created one cycle of the compost system has been completed. Cal Recycle says that, “Compost is finished when the original material has been transformed into a uniform, dark brown, crumbly product with a pleasant, earthy aroma. There may be a few chunks of woody material left; these can be screened out and put back into a new pile.” (Backyard Composting: Households”, par. 12). The humus created can be added to soil to keep plants healthy, boost plant growth and suppress disease and pests. The humus created can reduce the need for chemical enhancements in gardens. The humus is organic and is a great supplement to fertilizer that is not.

Maintaining an at home composting system is a great way to reuse food scraps or recyclable products. Instead of leftovers food being taken to landfills, they can be used in a compost system. The EPA reports that, “Food scraps and yard waste currently make up 20 to 30 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted instead.” (“Composting At Home”, par. 1). Leftovers break down faster in compost systems and using them in compost systems is more eco-friendly because when discarded food is not in landfills, methane emissions are reduced and thus the carbon footprint is