Compost is simply broken down to be a compounded organic nutrients. Compost is also known as black gold. It is a mixture of organic materials that has been piled up in a container to facilitate the process of decaying.
In other words, it is an artificial generation of full nutrients for the soil in order for it to help improve the soil quality, and improve the growth of new plants.
Compost is the easiest form of manure that you can give to your soil, to help it rejuvenate.
When these organic matter are put in a container, they are deprived of air and tend to decay fast while breeding microorganisms to speed up the process. The microorganisms when places on thee soil revitalizes the soil by aerating it and naturally prevents plants diseases.
These are examples of things to be composted: any of the material to be composted must be rich in protein, Nitrogen, carbon, and they are matters that can easily be gotten from kitchen wastes and kept in bin composter.
Matters filled with nitrogen should be in lesser quantity compared to that of the carbon so that there will be a surviving amount of gas for the microorganisms that will be habitants of the compost while decaying.
Example of carbon materials are :egg shells, dried leaves, stems, branches, brown paper bagels, coffee, straws, wood chips, wood ash, cardboards, nutshell, maize etc.
Examples of Nitrogen rich materials are :vegetable scraps, bone and blood meal,fish emulsion, human urine,leaves,
Sometimes finished composts are referred to as a conditioned soil because it has a lower level of elements like potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus.
Composting organisms
The organisms found in composting help to breakdown the matter. They are : Bacteria which is the most found microorganism in compost and vary according to their nature and phase of the composting.
The Actinomycetes are gray threaded webbed like organisms which cause the smells in the compost. Remember that the lesser the nitrogen, the lesser the smell.
They break down more complex matter like proteins and cellulose, papers, barks with their enzymes. Other prevalent micro organisms are Protozoa, Fungi, and rotifers.
Landfills
A landfill is a system of organizing disposed garbage. Most of the waste found in landfill sites are waste that are either not useful or usable. The need for them to be kept somewhere is the call for making a system used landfill system.
Landfills are done to help protect the environment from being contaminated. This is because there are diffilerent kinds of wastes which are the municipal waste (waste found in households), the industrial waste, and the hazardous waste.
Landfilling process is the opposite of land piling process. In landfilling, a hole is dug to contain the waste while in land piling, the waste are placed on the solid ground overtime.
Wastes gotten from agricultural activities are also toxic and so they can be taken to landfills.
The gas and the effect on the soil requires it to be done in an environment that is not sensitive. Once the space is filled with the refuse overtime, it is covered with another layer and then can be used for other purposes.
Landfill versus Compost
Compost are mostly used to create organic contents that are not poisonous to the soil while landfill cannot generate nutrient reach components. Rather, it has the higher ability to cause land pollution
Compost help to keep the organic materials separate before the inorganic ones are transferred to the dump.
The waste in landfills do not have exposure to oxygen and then produce methane. It is known as going through an anaerobic decomposition.
The wastes in Composts go through an aerobic decomposition through the exposure to some amount of air which does not produce poisonous gas (greenhouse gas) or methane if well managed.
Advantages of compost
- It reduces the number of items that goes to the landfills
- It is a form of sustaining the agricultural industry
- It is used to generate nutrients for the soil and promote organic plant growth
Advantages of Landfills
- It helps to dispose soldi waste in a sanitary way and ensure an healthy environment
- They help us to store garbage considering the large amount of garbage produced by human yearly
- It is cheap and easy to organize
Disadvantage of Compost
- It can lead to the production of gas if not well proportioned in terms of nitrogen and carbon
- It requires adequate monitoring, process and equipments for a successful composting
Disadvantages of Landfill
Landfills tend to contaminate soils and water. They have to be in locations where water supply for people are not close by and not geologically active.
And if at all there is a drainage system close to it, it is used to test the chemicals existing in the landfill.
It does not embrace the protection of natural organisms like plants,
What happened when there is no space for landfilling?
The full space will be converted to a greenhouse gas energy reserved area. The land is getting lost and so it is advisable to help recycle waste as much as possible.
How does landfill affect the atmosphere?
It produces greenhouse gas due to the absent of oxygen for its decomposition precession, this when left into the atmosphere affect it and contributes to climate change.
How Long does it take for landfills to completely decompose?
It takes about 80-100 years for wastes to finally decompose in landfills. However, wastes like bottles require longer time as much as up to a million years to finally decompose compared to papers which are mostly common in landfills.
What can you not decompose?
You can definitely decompose newspaper, kitchen waste, etc but not waste like pet waste, oils, treated plants (pesticides or preservatives) etc.
Can compost harm plants?
No , compost do not harm plant, they are actually safe and help the plants avoid pests and diseases. It gives them more nutrients naturally to promote their growth.
Will my compost smell bad?
The smell is inevitable since it is going through a decaying process, what can be done is a resuctiom of the smell by allowing air get in and then diffuse the stench that may come from it.
