From food scrap to soil is the best game in town to improve human health and sequester green house gases. Soil health is so important to human health because it is linked to all of our food. Composting returns valuable nutrients to the soil maintaining its quality and fertility. Well made compost provides a safe, slow release of natural fertilizer that won’t burn plants like chemical fertilizers nor will it leave cancer causing residues.When compost is used on fields, it displaces synthetic chemical fertilizers. Fertilizer production not only requires intensive fossil fuel energy it seriously impacts human and environmental health. Composting our food waste keeps the nutrients of this organic material in the cycle of life from soil to plant back to the soil again. Soils sequester the carbon dioxide of the food waste. In addition to emission reductions, compost replenishes and revitalizes exhausted farm soils by replacing trace minerals and organic material, while reducing soil erosion and helping to prevent storm water runoff. By composting, the generation of greenhouse gases, particularly methane, is avoided. Backyard composting and well-run industrial compost operations will produce negligible greenhouse gas
emissions. So compost those food scraps and help improve the health and workability of soils.
Also less fuel consumption will be needed to till the soil and it will help soils hold or sequester carbon dioxide. good for the planet and good for you. Article Daisy Carlson, Photo by Eddie Kopp How to compost from PBS/Nature.