Composting Basics
1. What is composting?
Composting: an assisted break down of organic materials over time into nutrient rich soil called compost.
Easy composting recipe:
Check out Compost This, Not That for more info on what to compost.
Ingredients
- 20 parts browns - dried leaves, cardboard, wood chips
- 1 part greens: food scraps, animal manure
- Frequent Air: turning or tumbling your pile for faster breakdown**
- Minimal H2O: some from rain is good, but you don't want it soaking
**Note: Anaerobic composting allows you to set it and forget it (no air required). There are many types of composting out there that we will include in a blog. We focus on turning our piles at Ground Down.**
Curious about food scrap pick-up? Check us out...
2. Backyard Composting
Use of a composting unit or pile at your own house. Watch your own waste transform into something new right before your eyes!!
Benefits:
- Minimize your impact to the environment. Decrease the amount of waste you produce in your household.
- Use the finished product on your lawn or garden to enrich plants!
Downsides:
- Smaller amount of input takes a longer time to create end compost
- Time to manage the pile
- Reference our Compost This, Not That to make sure you are putting in the right stuff to avoid rodents or small critters
- Avoid compostable containers especially plastic if possible. They take a long time to breakdown at household temperatures.
Check out our blog, Compost At Home for more information on how to compost at your own house.
3. Industrial Composting
Composting for an entire area, community, city and sometimes county. Abundance of food scraps allow temperatures to get hotter and cause faster breakdown of materials.
At Ground Down...
we aggregate food scraps and focus on industrial-community level composting. We collect from both commercial and residential location. By aggregating scraps we are working on turning compost around in 3-6 months.
We are able to take materials that are BPI certified (compostable) because our piles are always hot!
Check out our food scrap pick up services!
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We are in the process of releasing blogs to get your back on your journey to sustainability or ways for you to compost yourself! If you have any questions along the way, reach out to me at compost@grounddown.org.
Happy Composting!
xoxo
M
