Soil Part 3: Home Remedies for Soil Health

We’ve been talking about the big picture of soil and now it’s time to look at your own backyard. It turns out that repurposing your juice pulp and other veggie food scraps can be a huge benefit for your garden and the planet too. Get all the information and motivation you need to reduce food waste, start composting and much more.

My first impression of my compost pile? It smells so sweet. I’m not kidding. I’m not sure what I expected, but this aroma of earthy pleasantness was not it. I inherited this compost bin when I moved to my new home, and as I’ve been writing this series on soil health and why it matters, I knew it would eventually land here—in the backyard.

It’s so important to understand the big issues facing our soil and applaud farmers near and far who are working to replenish the soil, but we can’t forget the personal ways we can also work to protect the planet. It starts at home. You don’t have to be a soil scientist or a climate change expert to get involved.

Begin by thinking about every banana peel that goes into the trash after you make a smoothie or every apple core that gets tossed from juicing. You are not alone if that food waste currently goes into your garbage can.

In fact, by diverting this waste from the landfill and into a compost bin in your backyard (or joining a community compost program), you can help reduce the roughly 1.3 billion tons of food that is wasted each year, around the globe. That number amounts to about one third of all food produced for human consumption, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

For those who live in the United States, it’s the leading country in the world for food waste with folks throwing away nearly 40 million tons of food every year. Most of this food goes straight to landfills. The U.S. EPA estimates that more food reaches landfills than any other material in everyday trash, making up about a quarter of all municipal solid waste. On average, people in the U.S. waste about one pound of food per person each day.

All this discarded food contributes to rising methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane is 28 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat over a 100-year time frame.

The simple act of redirecting your banana peel or apple core can make a difference when it comes to global warming.

In fact, Paul Hawken, author of the groundbreaking book on climate solutions Drawdown, lists ending food waste as one of the top ten ways to help reverse global warming.

“The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 percent of global emissions,” Hawken writes.

“Recycling food and other organic waste into compost provides a range of environmental benefits, including improving soil health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, recycling nutrients, and mitigating the impact of droughts,” according to the National Resource Defense Council.

Now you might be wondering, doesn’t organic material like food scraps just fall to pieces at the landfill and go back to the soil? The short answer is no.

Organic materials at the landfill usually get compacted and covered, which removes oxygen. All that food waste gets mixed with other kinds of trash and the lack of oxygen causes it all to breakdown in an anaerobic process. It’s a slow method that keeps the waste building up for longer periods of time.

But there is a better solution for our food waste. Compost! It’s an easy and effective way to reuse leftover food scraps and give back to the land in a way that can sustain and nourish our soil.

Photo by Kamala Saraswathi / Unsplash

What is Compost?

A simple definition of compost is any organic material, such as leaves and food scraps, that can breakdown into a natural fertilizer. Compost can be added to soil and help enrich plants.

Research shows that when you add organic material to soil it can increase its ability to retain water. That’s great news for drought-prone areas. Each 1 percent increase in organic matter in the soil can help it hold about 20,000 more gallons of water per acre. When farmers use compost to nourish soil, they can use less water and still enjoy high yields.

Compost also helps improve soil health by bringing key nutrients back to the dirt including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

The Basics of Composting

Let’s cover all the ways you can salvage fresh foods from your garbage bin at home and put them to use in your garden. The basic idea is to find (or make) a compost bin, cover it, turn it and water it about once a week, and in 8–12 weeks, you will have compost.

Compost has three basic components: browns, greens and water.

Browns include dead leaves, branches, cardboard boxes, brown paper bags and even some newer compostable food packaging.

Greens are any materials such as grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps and coffee grounds.

Water is also needed in your compost pile, as the moisture will help break down the organic matter.

You want to strive to include equal amounts of browns and greens in your compost pile and alternate layers of organic materials.

What To Compost

• Fruits and vegetables
• Eggshells
• Coffee grounds and filters
• Tea bags
• Nut shells
• Shredded newspaper
• Cardboard
• Paper
• Yard trimmings
• Grass clippings
• Houseplants
• Hay and straw
• Leaves
• Sawdust
• Wood chips
• Cotton and Wool Rags

What Not To Compost & Why

• Black walnut tree leaves or twigs (releases substances harmful to plants)
• Coal or charcoal ash (might contain substances harmful to plants)
• Dairy products and bread (create odor problems and attract pests)
• Diseased or insect-ridden plants (diseases might survive and transfer)
• Fats, grease, lard or oils (create odor problems and attract pests)
• Meat or fish bones and scraps (create odor problems and attract pests)
• Pet wastes (might contain parasites, bacteria, and viruses harmful to humans)
• Yard trimmings treated with chemical pesticides (might kill beneficial composting organisms)

If you are more a visual learner, check out this video from the Nelson City Council in New Zealand to get started: How to Compost

Photo by Edward Howell / Unsplash

Considerations For City Dwellers

Don’t have a backyard, but still want to be mindful about your food scraps? You have a few options. Check with your local community gardens or farmers’ markets to see if they take “donations.”

When I lived in a big city, I kept all my food scraps in a bag in my freezer and would bring them to the farmers’ market each week. It felt great knowing I was diverting my waste and helping the local farmers who grew my food.

Many cities have also launched composting programs so that residents can compost their food right along with recycling and trash pick-up.

San Francisco is a great success story, becoming the first city in the U.S. to create a large-scale food composting program in 1996.

“Composting supports soil health, which scientists say is critical in efforts to address climate change,” said Robert Reed, director at Recology, San Francisco’s refuse hauler.

The city achieved the statewide goal of 50 percent landfill diversion in 2000 and expanded its commitment with a goal of 75 percent diversion by 2010. In 2011, the city exceeded its goal with a 78 percent diversion rate.

If you would like to see composting as part of your city’s collection services, consider how you can take measures to make that happen by attending town hall meetings or getting involved in your city government.

You can also look for local companies like CompostNow, Suncoast Compost or Veteran Compost that will collect food waste from your home or business and turn it into nutrient-rich compost for the community.

Even if you don’t have time or resources to compost, you can also work to cut back your food waste. A few ideas include planning meals, using up more produce in juices and smoothies or learning how to better store your produce.

Read the other articles in this series:

• Soil Part 1: How Soil Impacts Our Health—and the Health of Our Planet
• Soil Part 2: A Farming System Focused on Healing