But why compost? Landfills and incarceration could be a way to get rid of yard waste, but why bother with composting?  Even though there are government agencies and private companies that collect wastes from homes and industries, landfills and incinerators are not always the best options.

Putting decomposing materials in landfills would be a waste of space and unnecessary.  Yard wastes in landfill produce methane gas, a greenhouse gas that has the potential to explode.  For example in Asia, Latin America and Africa, 40 % of methane emissions or about 37 million metric tons come from landfills.

Incineration or burning is also not a great option. It could result to air pollution, burning yard leaves are even said to have an effect on people’s breathing and even increase the risk of asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and allergies.  In the United States, there are some states that have implemented a ban on burning leaves and other yard wastes. Environmental problems in Asia or any part of globe could really affect other parts of the globe.

To reduce wastes being produced, government agencies are encouraging home owners to do composting at home.  For example, in the United States, Illinois are not collecting any yard wastes.  This regulation is to encourage homeowners to recycle and start composting.

Organic materials can be used as fertilizers to enrich the soil, this is used as composting.  With composting organic materials are sued like yard trimmings, food wastes and animal wastes or manure.  Some would even add bulking agents like wood chips that would hasten the breakdown of organic materials.

What is so good about composting?  Here are some composting benefits:

• The use compost is proved to be better is preventing plant diseases and pests. Using organic materials to enrich the soil is definitely better than using chemical fertilizers.  Using chemical fertilizers could have some effects on crops which could have an effect on the consumer’s health.

• The use of organic fertilizers could also promote higher crop yield and effectively resolve soil problems after being dumped by hazardous wastes.  They can effectively remove oil, grease and heavy metals caused by stormwater runoff.

• They are also proven to be more cost efficient compared with other pollution resolution technologies.

Farmers find compost to be very important with their crops and their yield.  Landscapers also use compost for areas that they are landscaping like golf courses and athletic fields.  They are also great for parks, median strips and other recreational areas.  Homeowners also find compost great for their backyards and vegetable patches at home.

Compost as waste management is a great way to help the environment and reduce wastes.  They also offer economic benefits since they are low-cost alternatives compared to other soil amendments.  They are also a more cost-efficient method of revamping or remediating contaminated soil by different pollutants.

The practice was carried on to war periods until it became a significant part in the modern approach to waste management. But unlike before, recycling efforts today are not pushed by the scarcity of resources; rather, they are a decent response to environmental issues. Waste management and recycling, specifically, are attempts to preserve the environment and protect all living things. And as the environment is continuously being threatened by massive waste production, recycling is hoped to be a global endeavor.

Why recycle?

Landfills and incinerators are the most common destinations of collected waste. Although proven helpful in waste disposal, these two have been widely criticized for their environmental effects. Burying waste in landfills particularly allows for the release of methane gas, a type of greenhouse gas that is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide. Aside from that, landfills can leach other hazardous materials and may cause water pollution. And because waste materials are known to take many years to decompose, with some requiring hundreds to thousands of years, more landfill space are needed, which are becoming expensive and scarce. Incinerators, meanwhile, similarly emit greenhouse gas and other toxic chemicals that endanger human health and trigger global climate changes. Recycling responds to these problems by decreasing the volume of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. Rather than disposed of, waste materials are turned into something more useful.

By making new products out of used products, recycling contributes to the conservation of energy. Generally, it takes less energy to process an already processed material. For instance, the production of paper using recycled materials uses 40% less of the time needed to make the same product from virgin materials. This energy conservation also provides small openings for water and air pollution. In the same way, recycling significantly reduces the consumption of raw materials, which naturally contributes to the conservation of resources. Recycling a ton of newspaper, for instance, saves 12 trees.

But aside from the environmental benefits, the economical benefits of recycling are also one reason it has been practiced in many countries. On a national scale, recycling can create a lot of jobs that offer decent wages. And with the recycling industry becoming even more successful, more businesses are expected to grow and provide more job opportunities. Individuals, on the other hand, can make small business through recycling projects. They can create new products, such as bags and cards, from scraps and sell them for a small price. Selling scrap materials to certain organizations and individuals, who in turn will make recycled items for reselling, is as well a good way to earn money.

Buying recyclable and recycled products is also encouraged to support the recycling industry and as a whole to protect the environment. The symbol of three moving arrows on a product signifies it is recyclable. Such arrows represent the process of recycling: from becoming a waste to reprocessing to reselling. And this symbol coined the term “close the loop,” an accurate representation of waste management and recycling.

Humans naturally know what to do with their waste as evidenced by the instituted waste management systems in the pre-modern and modern forms. However, along with global industrialization and population explosion, waste production blew out of proportion, endangering the environment and threatening humans and other living things. With the environmental issues raised here and there, there seems to be a need to remind humans of the importance of waste management.

Education and awareness campaigns play a great part here. Not all people after all are aware that the one piece of waste material they are sending to landfills or incinerators constitutes a greater threat to the environment. Presently, calls to recycle and waste reduction are widely active. And various projects and campaigns are launched everyday, adding more noise to the earlier advocacies on proper waste management.

The good news is that a good number of the population is increasingly becoming aware of the importance of waste management and is getting involved. However, more need to be tapped. There are still who remain passive. This segment of the population probably knows that proper waste management benefits the Earth and consequently everyone and everything living in it. But only vaguely. The finer and more intricate details are probably not known to them.

Waste does a lot of things. When brought to the landfills, they emit greenhouse gas in the form of methane. Although methane can be used to make energy, it is generally hazardous to health. Wastes buried in landfills also tend to leach chemicals that can contaminate groundwater. Wastes can be incinerated, though. The problem with incinerators, however, is that they also produce greenhouse gas and other forms of toxin such as dioxin. Dioxin is found to cause cancer. Whether waste is brought to a landfill or incinerator, it seems like it is a potential source of pollution and threat to health.

Although indirectly, waste causes resource depletion. This is due to the common buying pattern: buy, throw, and then buy again. As the waste piles up high, the demand for more products also rises, almost exhausting the natural resources. This has a spiral effect, mainly involving threats to biodiversity, deforestation, pollution, and other environmental problems.

Waste management can be part of the solution in two ways: one is through waste reduction, and two through recycling. Consistent waste reduction and recycling activities mean there will be less waste materials to be sent to landfills and incinerators. As such, the emission of greenhouse gas and other forms of pollutant will be reduced by a large percentage. Reusing and recycling of used items will also result in less production of new products. And this helps in the conservation of natural resources.

There is a great need in understanding the importance of waste management because unless it is acknowledged by all people, waste management efforts will not progress to further heights.