7 R'S - ROT and Compost Our Waste
Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash
Do you ever feel doubt about what to do with the food scraps or other organic material in your kitchen or office? If you’re curious about alternatives to putting them in the compost bin or if you’re curious about what composting is, read on.
We discover ways to reduce your food waste and put organic material back into the natural cycle. We’re going to find out about decomposers such as worms and insects and how they play a part in returning our organic matter back to earth.
Let Worms Do It
If worms and other natural decomposers do not return the organic nutrients to nature, valuable nutrients may end up in landfill, where they turn into methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas. Even though some communities have landfill facilities that capture landfill gases such as methane, the best use of organic material is compost.
What is ROT (composting) and why is it one of the 7 R'S of Sustainability?
Composting is controlled decomposition and the natural option to sending waste to landfill.
It is one of the 7 R'S of Sustainability. Each of the 7 R'S helps shift your mindset from the "just toss it" mentality. To ROT is to consider how to BEST use the resources in our organic material.
ROT is a choice. We can choose to compost it and not chuck it into landfill. We can choose to have respect as an attitude when we were considering how get rid of our waste.
When we have something to throw away we can ask can I ROT it?
Why ROT?
To find out why composting is the BEST choice and learn more about the problems caused by landfill, watch this 10-minute video "The Compost Story" by Kiss The Ground. It shows what would happen if we diverted the 60 billion pounds of mineral-rich food materials that go into landfills and turned them into compost. Join the movement to regenerate the planet, starting with soil.
How to ROT it?
Find out if your city or regional area has a composting program. Some regional areas have composting programs. Does yours? If it does find out what materials can be composted. Some places pizza boxes can be composted.
If you don’t have a compost program in your area, consider composting it yourself. How would you to that?
Listen to this enthusiastic school teacher explain it to her class in this 5-minute video lesson "Make the Most of Compost!"
Watch 5.5 minute video "Composting for Beginners | The Dirt | Better Homes & Gardens" to learn how to make compost and get more tips on how to utilize this natural mulch in your garden. The result is "black gold." One of his tips it to use a compost starter, I found EB Stone makes an activator for compost piles and it is sold at Cole Hardware in San Francisco.
What else can I do with food scraps?
Of course, composting is important because it puts nutrients back in the soil and it avoids methane exuding from landfill. However today let’s consider eating our food scraps, collecting them for food stock or re-growing them. I have carrot greens growing from that part of the carrot we usually throw away. Instead of composting food waste, try fun ways to reduce what you put in your compost bin.
How can I help your composting facility?
By removing those little produce stickers from apples and other fruits and vegetables, you help solve a big problem. Read " Those Little Produce Stickers? They’re a Big Waste Problem"
What can I do about ROT?
Consider: Composting puts nutrients back in the soil and avoids exuding methane in landfills.
Ask: Is this compostable? Can I eat kitchen scraps or collect them for soup stock?
Act: Cook food scraps such as carrot, radish and beet greens for soup stock. Reduce food waste. Read more on the Foodprint website
Future research and extra credit
Ask your grocery what they do with the food they don’t sell. I’ve received some interesting answers and would love to hear yours.
How do smart and sustainable cities compost?
What goes on in a compost facility?
Where to go NOW that you know?
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Share this information with family and friends. Spread the word and expand your sphere of influence about what you can do to reduce food waste.