Hi friend, have you met Composting?

Composting

Aug 14

Is composting just an eco-buzzword? The latest eco-trend to fight climate change? We say definitely NOT. In fact, the concept of composting dates back to 3000BC in Egypt, but we won’t get technical and bore you, dear readers of the details. It was then widely popularized in the 1960s as a climate movement and now has been seeing a resurgence in the past couple of years with states mandating composting and Millenials (finally) trying to be more sustainable. Hi, we are those Millenials, those Millenials are us!

Composting sounds daunting and home composting more so. But it really isn’t that hard and complicated once you get through the hardest hurdle which is to - simply start! To start composting is to know and understand the concept of composting. So here goes.

Composting is simply the natural process of recycling organic “food scraps” or waste that in time turns into mulch, soil fertilizer or compost. Compost is the by-product of these scraps. It is a dark, crumbly, earthly mixture consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing soil.

So think of turning those fruit peels, veggie scraps, discarded coffee grounds and even paper scraps (reminder to subscribe to e-notices instead) into soil fertilizer for your backyard and garden. Instead of throwing away organic items that will end up in landfills releasing methane, the better option is to compost it yourself or to collect and drop-off your compost pile at your local composting organization.

What goes into a compost? We’ll cover in more detail soon, so stay tuned.

Does this mean compostable products are better than those that are not? Compared to conventional plastic, definitely yes! Because it is able to decompose for a shorter period time. Imagine a ziploc bag takes 400+ years to decompose, while a Nata Home Compostable Zip Bag only takes 90 days. Cool, right? We will cover more on this, such as - ziploc bags vs. home compostable ziploc bags and the concept of eco plastic in our next couple of posts so watch out for those.

There are generally 2 types of compostable products:

Compostable or “Industrial Compostable” - materials that decomposes or breaks down in a commercial facility under controlled conditions..
Home Compostable - materials that you can throw into your backyard compost bin and will decompose with your food scraps.

Hot tip! Make sure to look for those “Certified Compostable” and “Certified Home Compostable” seals similar to the TUV Austria Compostable logo and the like.