How to compost kitchen waste in easy steps

Introduction

Every home kitchen generates food scraps for disposal. Throwing these scraps in the garbage can create odor problems and adds to the volume of waste going to the landfill. Disposing of kitchen scraps in a garbage disposal is convenient, but it adds to the burden of the waste-treatment system and throws away a potentially valuable resource.

The urban Indian citizen generates nearly 700 grams of solid waste per person per day which is nearly 250 kg in a year.

More than half of what we carelessly throw into the trash is organic matter, which if composted, can produce rich top soil for our plants. Unfortunately most of us do not segregate our dry waste from wet waste, which makes composting impossible. The precious wet waste — what can potentially become black gold — remains unusable junk inside our landfills.

Also, by mixing our food waste with our recyclable waste (paper, plastic, metal), we make even our recyclable waste less recoverable.

If we pass on this responsibility to the Municipality without source segregation, we recover abysmally low levels of value from our trash. Due to poor source segregation, Municipalities in India are currently able to compost only 0.21 % of the wet waste we throw away.

The key to a clean, garbage free city lies in citizens doing their civic duty of source segregation and composting. A viable alternative to disposing of food scraps in the landfill or the sewer system is to compost them. The resulting material is a useful addition to gardens and potted plants.

What is composting?

Composting is a process by which organic materials, such as kitchen scraps and lawn trimmings are converted from an unstable product, which is likely to further decompose and create objectionable odors, to an increasingly more stable product that will store well without being offensive.

A diverse population of microorganisms and invertebrates, called decomposers, performs this process. Various decomposers have different temperature and food requirements, thus the makeup of the population present in a compost system continuously changes as conditions change. Most people think of composting as a pile of organic materials that slowly decomposes and creates heat. This is called thermophilic composting because it relies primarily on high-temperature tolerant microorganisms. Another form of composting is called vermicomposting (which uses worms).

Composting organisms require 4 conditions to create compost:

1. Carbon that comes from brown organic matter like dried leaves, sawdust, paper

2. Nitrogen that comes from fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds

3. Oxygen which comes from air

4. Water in the right amounts

Landfills are not the ideal environment to create compost, since food waste is made toxic by the plastic and metal waste. Further waste gets piled up everyday like a mountain and the layers below are cut off from oxygen 

File photo shows a lady turning kitchen waste into manure. : Courtesy The Hindu

Easy steps to compost your kitchen waste

1. Separate your edible kitchen waste (vegetable peels, fruit peels, small amounts of wasted cooked food) in a container.

2. Collect dry organic matter (dried leaves, sawdust) in a small container

3. Take a large earthen pot or a bucket and drill 4 – 5 holes around the container at different levels to let air inside.

4. Line the bottom with a layer of soil.

5. Now start adding food waste in layers alternating wet waste (food scraps, vegetable and fruit peels) with dry waste (straw, sawdust, dried leaves).

6. Cover this container with a plastic sheet or a plank of wood to help retain moisture and heat.

Every few days, use a rake to give the pile a quick turn to provide aeration. If you think the pile is too dry, sprinkle some water so that it is moist.

Within 2 - 3 months, your pile should start forming compost that is dry, dark brown and crumbly and smelling of earth. There are also readymade composting kits available for those who want to overcome initial resistance to starting composting.

With time and a little patience, composting will become second nature to you.

By segregating, recycling and composting, a family of 4 can reduce their waste from 1000 Kg to less than 100 kg every year.

source: Virginia Tech
             The Hindu