Composting and the Benefits and Limitations of its Use as Soil Amendmen

Composting and the Benefits and Limitations of its work as Soil Amendment Composting is widely-know as an environmentally sustainable method of cycle food scraps and garden/yard clippings. According to the United States purlieu Protection Agencys (EPA) 1994 report entitled, run out Prevention, Recycling, and Composting, food discards constitute approximately 8 percent of municipal solid waste generated nationwide. A case scan observed in San Francisco, California, reported that an estimated 31 percent of residential wastes and 19 percent of commercial waste generated is food waste. Composting is a viable get along to the food-waste problem. Composting not only reduces the amount of waste, buy also contains chemical properties and different rich elements that benefit the soils quality, allowing farmers to use it as soil amendment. The following search will examine the process of composting and its different variables in order to study its positive and negative affects on the soil. Composting refers to the controlled decomposing of organic matter by microorganisms, principally bacteria and fungi, that break organic matter down into readily easy nutrients. In truth, it relies on little to no human intervention which makes it plumb easy. There are literally dozens of different technologies that are shortly used to create compost (Stickelberger, 1975, p.188). Professor David Bice of Carleton College utilizes a method known as vermicomposting. Dictated by the amount of space (he is limited to in his apartment), Professor Bice places his food scraps in a bucket where red-colored worms last and convert the bio-waste into a fertilizer product. Therefore, selection of a system depends more often than not on pragmatic factors.... ...lized form of organic matter that improves the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. industrial plant CitedStickelberger, D, 1975, Survery of city refuse composting. In Organic Materials and Fertilizers Rome, It aly, FAO Soils, Bulletin 27.Kapage, F.S.C.P, 1974, Tropical Soils Classification, Fertility, and precaution New York, St. Martin Press, 201p.Broadbent, F.E., 1987, Organic Matter . Minnesota Compost and Co-Compost Research Project, In USDA Yearbook of Agriculture U.S. Government Printing Office, capital of the United States, D.C.Government Document, February 1994, Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Composting Options Lessons From 30 Communities U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C. 47p.Government Document, May 1994, Composting gibibyte Trimmings and Municipal Solid Waste U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C. 56-57p.