Mining Black Gold The Comprehensive Guide to Composting

It is common knowledge compost is great for the health of your soil and plants, but have you ever stopped to consider the financial worth of the black gold you are mining, or the good you could be doing the planet by being more compost-aware?

It is estimated one cubic yard of compost is worth $562: $157 in fertilizer, $150 in energy, $100 in organic matter, $100 in microbial inoculants, and $5 in growth hormones. That’s a lot of value for a load of scraps and household waste!

There are important environmental benefits, too. In 2011 composting prevented the release of 183 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air. That’s the equivalent of 34 million cars being taken off the road for a whole year. Composting also prevented almost 87 million tons of material from being disposed in landfills that same year.

So with everything we know about the benefits of composting, why is more than 60 percent of what ends up in our landfills organic waste that could be composted? People often do not realize the number of common household items they could be composting in everyday life. It’s time we took notice of the economic and environmental value this black gold holds. Use this guide to composting to learn what you can and can’t compost, how to compost effectively through proper layering, turning, and materials, and how composting can improve your life!