Ethan Cantlin
11/9/15
Project Annotation 3
“Advantages of a Compost Pile”
This article argues that backyard composting is good for the environment, for your wallet, and
for your whole community, and there’s no excuse for not doing it. Composting removes food waste from
the landfill stream and uses it to create rich compost for use in gardens. In one’s home, composting
saves money, by reducing the average family’s weekly garbage by 60% and reducing the number of
garbage bags per year the family will go through. Additionally, composting is good for the family
because it keeps the smell of food waste outside and away from the living area, and allows the family to
turn their waste into something useful. The article encourages readers to “consider the reduction of
waste in your own kitchen garbage when you compost, and you get an idea of how a composting nation
can reduce garbage in city dumps and landfills”. Environmentally, composting has huge impacts.
America’s landfill waste is comprised of approximately 40% food waste, which when composted greatly
reduces the amount of methane released by landfills, as the organic matter is broken down more
efficiently and completely. Gardens grown with compost need less watering, due to the high moisture
content of the compost, and require less fertilizer, both of which tax the environment. Composting also
reduces GHG emissions, especially when small scale or local composting is used instead of commercial.
This is due to fewer garbage trucks making fewer trips and stopping less to pick up trash because almost
half of a household’s waste is composted and doesn’t make it to the curb (with non-commercial
composting). Many people see composting as a hassle, particularly because they would otherwise just
throw their food waste in a garbage can inside their house. Seeing as the majority of Americans have a
pet, the food scraps can be taken out while letting the family pet out for the last time before bed. “It
may seem easier at first, but once you are in the habit of composting, it truly takes no extra effort”. The
smell and sight of compost can easily be concealed with a proper container and maintenance.
This article can inform our project by providing useful information that could be given to those
interested in the composting program we plan to initiate. It gives information that could be used to
persuade and encourage people to join the program, and can help create an education platform to
include with the proposal to compost at Troy Public Schools. Finally, this article provides answers to
many of the common questions and objections raised when discussing composting on a larger scale,
which will become quite useful when the project begins operations at the Troy Public Schools, as
parents may bring up these same points.
Work Cited:
Hanson, Rachel. "Advantages of a Compost Pile." Love to Know. Accessed November 10, 2015.