GO GREEN-COMPOST

Did you know that an average household in the United States creates around 200 pounds of vegetable waste per year.

Did you know that twenty-three percent of all landfill waste in the USA is made up of yard and household vegetable wastes.

Did you know that a lot of that landfill waste doesn't have to be there!

Did you know that when you place your vegetable waste in the garbage, that it mixes with toxic substances, and it becomes just as much of a pollutant as the waste that it combines with. Did you know that if you take just a few minutes to compost your vegetable waste, that you can turn that same waste material back into nutrient rich soil, and you can save a little piece of your environment for future generations to enjoy.

Virtually all yard trimmings and kitchen vegetable wastes can be composted.

Include all of your potato and carrot peelings, apple cores, watermelon rinds, banana peels, orange peels, celery trimmings or other unused vegetable matter.

Other items that you can include in your compost site are nut shells, egg shells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, small pieces of cardboard or paper, straw or hay, cotton or wool rags and even wood chips. Virtually all yard trimmings or rakings can be composted if they are of a vegetable matter and you have a large enough area to put them.

Keep in mind that the smaller the material is than the quicker it will compost. So feel free to chop, rip and shred your compostable waste into a more biodegradable size.

Note: Never add lard, oil, grease, meat or fish products, dairy or cheese products, pet wastes or any other pollutants or toxic contaminants of any form into your compost!

Composting can be done in a small corner of your garden or yard, a wooden box or barrel, or even in a pail or flower box. As soon as you have some appropriate waste matter it is time to start composting.

Begin by digging a shallow hole in your dirt, this is where you will deposit your vegetable matter. Depending on the size of your compost area a small shovel or gardening spade can be used to bury the daily deposits. Water should be added on a regular basis, and if you want a very active batch, then the mixture should be stirred or "turned over" every few days. The water and the natural heat of the sun will proceed to bake your "discardings" into a mineral rich fertilizer.

You'll be amazed how quickly you will start to see the decomposition in process. The entire transformation of matter can take anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 years depending on the amount of material and how actively you care for it. The more you tend to your site then the faster that it will compost.

If you live in an apartment without a balcony, your vegetable waste can be placed in a pail or other such container until you have the opportunity to return it to the great outdoors, after which time nature will take care of the job of composting this material for you.

Spring, summer, fall or winter, the season that you drop off your vegetable waste really doesn't make too much of a difference. In the winter months a few hungry woodland creatures or birds might also make use of your offerings, and Mother Nature is sure to take care of any vegetable waste that you return to her, regardless of the season that you return it in.

The act of returning these degradable matters to the earth is good in and of itself so keep in mind that composting doesn't have to be a lot of work for you. Just take the time to return your vegetable wastes and yard trimmings to the ground that they came from.

You can use your compostable material to add nutrients back into your garden or flower beds, use it as mulch around your trees, donate it to someone else with a garden or just return it back to nature.

Composting is such a simple way of contributing to saving the environment that we live in!

If you have an article to give away, and you don't know who to give it to, then Freecycle.com is a website that you might consider visiting.

Maybe you work for a company where cardboard boxes or wood pallets need to be disposed of, they are still in good condition so you really don't like seeing them wind up in the landfill, but you don't know how to connect to the people that could use them. Well freecycle is the site for you! A farmer looking for egg cartons or a mother looking for used baby clothes freecycle is the perfect local connection for you.

Freecycle.com is a site that helps people who have a desire to recycle articles by giving them away rather than throwing them away. Freecycle.com is a network of community groups that help people connect with each other......Read More

A two year study conducted by NASA has proven that common household plants are indeed helpful in removing harmful pollutants from the air around them. This means that the air within your home can be a little cleaner to breathe if you simply allow a few friendly little houseplants to come and share your humble abode with you.

Houseplants help to purify the air!

You may be wondering why you have to clean the air in your home when you have worked so diligently to maintain a clean and germ free home?

Well that extra housecleaning, and the household cleaning products that you have been using to do it, might actually be adding to the level of toxins contained in the air within your home.......Read More

http://www.compostguide.com/
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/composting/basic.htm
http://journeytoforever.org/compost.html