Food waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses and accounts for roughly one third of the food meant for human consumption. Composting is the process by which food is converted into a nutrient-rich, biologically-stable soil for your yard and garden and keeps it out of landfills where it produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. Composting is an easy way to reduce household food waste .
As a bonus, composting creates vital fuel for flower beds, new trees or a vegetable garden . The green practice was once considered niche but has gone mainstream with municipally mandated composting programs in many cities, private compost collection services and smart kitchen bins that turn food scraps into sweet-smelling dirt overnight and speed up that initial -- and often smelly -- first step. If you're planning to start composting this summer, here's everything you need to know about starting a pile, including what can and can't be composted.
Read more: Are Countertop Composters Worth It? I Calculated My Food Waste for a Week to See What is composting? Composting is a way to help food trash and other organic items decompose into a substance that can be used to alter the composition of soil so that it's more nutritious for plants. To start the composting process, certain bacteria activators are added to the organic material to create heat. The heat causes the organic material to decompose more quickly than it would out in nature.
Items that can be composted Most but not all food.