Composting 101

Composting is an eco-friendly approach for reusing and reducing organic waste. Many people avoid composting because they are intimidated by the process.

But understanding composting will help you reduce the amount of junk you produce and dump in overflowing landfills.

 Composting 101: Reusing Organic Waste and Rubbish

There are always ways to reuse most of what we usually throw out at home and even at work. When it comes to the inorganic items like household junk, broken-down furniture, toys, and appliances, or any other materials that you need to dispose of, residential junk removal is required.

The good news is that this is a job you don't have to do yourself! Just make a quick call to Junk King and our expert, highly trained, and courteous team of junk removal professionals will take care of it all for you quickly and safely.

And, best of all, we do all the heavy lifting!

However, when it comes to getting rid of your organic waste - food and kitchen debris, for example - this is more of a "do it yourself" type of job. 

But, instead of simply throwing everything into the household trash each time, composting can be a many faceted benefit for your household and for the planet. 

What's the Big Deal with Food Waste Anyway?

For the individual household, the food we toss out each day may not seem to amount to much. But, when taken together with every other household in the country - along with restaurants and other food-serving facilities - the food waste is massive!

In fact, according to the EPA, 

According to scientific research, approximately one-third of the food produced in the U.S. is never eaten. When food is produced but unnecessarily wasted, all the resources used to grow the food – water, energy, fertilizers – and the resources used to transport it from farms to our tables, are wasted as well. Most of the resource inputs and environmental impacts of food waste occur during production, processing, and delivery to our kitchens.

When food is deposited in a landfill and decomposes, the byproducts of that decomposition process are methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat and contributes to climate change. EPA estimated that in the United States in 2018, more food was sent to landfills than any other single material in our everyday trash.

So, how much food waste was that?

The EPA states that an estimated 35.3 million tons of wasted food went to landfills in 2018. That works out to about 220 pounds of food per person, per year here in the U.S.

And that's just what goes into our landfills. 

The good news is that much of this food waste can actually be "reused" as compost, which will benefit yards, flower beds, vegetable gardens, and all types of plant life in our urban and suburban regions. 

So, the question for many of us is, "Just what does composting involve?"

Composting Made Easy

Understanding Composting

Compost is an organic matter that has been recycled and turned into soil amendment or fertilizer.

In layman’s terms, composting is a process of making a pile of wet organic matter such as leaves and food waste, and wait for them to break down and turn into humus after several weeks or months. Processes that are more complicated involve specific amounts of water, carbon, nitrogen, and air put into compost.

Items You Can Compost

There are various types of items that you can compost such as vegetables, fruits, leaves, branches, plants, eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, paper, and cardboard are some of the more common compost materials.

Other items to compost are bread, dryer lint, chemically treated wood, used personal items, glass, glossy paper, and grease. These items are compostable but are not as ideal as green waste.

Advantages of Composting

Composting reduces the amount of junk dumped in dumpsters and landfills. It also limits the negative environmental impact of junk. You will also find new ways to use food waste instead of throwing them away. Use compost as fertilizer for the plants and flowers in your garden, instead of using chemicals that may harm the soil.

Composting may seem like a complicated process at first, but once you know how to do it, you will do your part in helping conserve the environment.

Smart Composting

Build a compost bin to gather all the items you need for composting. The bin allows you to determine how much waste food you have at home and which of these items are compostable. 

Another approach to having your own compost bin in your own yard or garden area is to participate in and contribute to a community compost bin co-op arrangement.

Working as a community to reduce food and other organic waste not only reduces the collective waste headed for landfills, but also helps residents and neighbors build a sense of responsibility and camaraderie.

When Your Organic Waste Is More than Your Bin Can Manage

There are times and circumstances that dictate some other approach to disposing of organic waste. In most cases, it's not so much food waste as it is yard debris that needs to be gotten rid of. And this green waste can pile up quite quickly during certain times of year.

Hiring a junk removal firm like Junk King to collect your green waste is an efficient and fast way to get rid of yard debris and similar waste material.

Our highly trained junk removal experts can collect your yard waste and other junk on a day and time that works for your schedule. And, best of all, they will do all of the hard lifting for you, from collecting to loading to hauling and to proper disposal or recycling.

Junk King for Green Waste Removal and Disposal

Yard debris and other types of organic waste can be made up of many types of things. And almost all of them are hard or messy to work with.

Even worse, not all of it can go into your compost bins or even in your household recycling bin.

So, what do you do with the "excess" yard waste or the bulk quantities of debris from outdoor cleaning or landscaping projects? Especially if you still have piles of dirt and debris everywhere in your yards?

No worries! Jus call Junk King for fast, reliable, and affordable yard waste removal service.

And, unlike the backseat of or trunk of the family car, our junk removal trucks are made to handle those dirty yard debris items.

Our professional and insured yard waste removal team will show up at your home and we'll call you 15 to 30 minutes before we arrive on site. Also, we will provide you with a free estimate based on how much room your yard waste and other debris takes up in our truck.

All you'll need to do is just point and we'll haul your waste into our junk removal trucks - and with no hidden fees.

So, need to get rid of excess green waste? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.

You can make an appointment by booking online above or by calling 1.888.888.JUNK (5865).