Composting Inside and Out: The comprehensive guide to reusing trash, saving money and enjoying the benefits of organic gardening

Preface: Inside & Out

Did you know that the art of composting can take place inside as well as outdoors? It's true: We can transform a great deal of our waste into compost in the confines of our homes. Within the pages of this book, you'll see that not only is indoor composting possible, but with a little guidance and few tools, it's quite simple. You'll also learn the best outdoor composting method for your unique living situation and the keys to success. You'll see the benefits of composting from some new perspectives, which occur both inside and out. Indoor houseplants fed compost burst forth with new growth and blooms, while the lawn outside your window will flourish, and the vegetable garden will produce its best tomatoes when fed compost.

There is no mistaking the benefits of the added biology and nutrients compost brings to indoor plants, gardens, soil, and the environment. But did you know that composting can also help you and your body inside and out? Taking on the activity of composting may have a transformative effect on both your inner and outer worlds, your mental well-being as well as your physical well-being. It has for me, and I wrote Composting Inside & Out to share my experience with you.

PHYSICAL WELL-BEING

The physical health benefits of compost are clear, especially if you plan to grow your own edibles. Compost provides nutrients, soil biology, and natural pest resistance, which leads to a happier and heartier garden without the use of harmful pesticides. Research shows that pesticides and chemical fertilizers used on lawns and gardens are absorbed into our bodies causing extensive health problems. These substances are stored in our cells and passed on to future generations. They also change the composition of the soil and the food grown in that soil, as well as the chemical makeup of the food, water, and air that we take into our bodies.

In an interview with The Sun magazine, Sandra Steingraber, an environmentalist and expert on the causes of cancer and reproductive problems, said, other than the forty-six chromosomes bequeathed to us by our parents, we are simply rearranged molecules of air, food, and water. She reminds us of the obvious, …you breathe in so many gallons of air every day; you drink so many quarts of water; and you eat so many molecules of food. Shouldn't it be clear upon hearing that reminder that we need to be very careful about what we ingest and to what we are exposed? Keeping chemicals, such as fertilizers and landfill leachate, out of our soil, air, and water is essential. Steingraber reminds us that the molecules you ingest and absorb daily, …are knitted together to make your brain, your muscles, your hair, and your blood. The image of these toxic chemicals settling into the organs of your body can be quite disturbing. These are facts we can ignore no longer. To live happy and healthy lives, we need to change our agricultural habits, our waste management habits, and our reliance on chemicals. The small changes we make as individuals, such as composting instead of using landfills, have an effect not only on ourselves but also on all the life around us and our future generations.

Composting helps us understand and improve our diets and food habits. Although I am generally a healthy eater, composting with worms made me take notice of what I ate. The world around me became a list of items that were either organic, compostable waste or not. Waste became categorized as either worm food or not. With my eyes open and my attention to these details heightened, my diet improved even more. My grocery bags contained more and more veggies (which worms love) and less meats and processed foods (which harm worms). Worms should not be fed meats, cheeses, oils, vinegars and spices, including excessive salts, so I became more conscious of these items in my diet. If I ate these things, I could not feed them to my worms. I would have to throw them in garbage, which would defeat my original intent of reducing my waste stream. As doctors have told us, we should be minimizing fatty and salty foods to ensure longevity and heart health. What's good for me is good for my worms. What feeds my compost feeds me, and now that I have a 10' × 4' (3m × 1m) raised bed full of organic edibles in my backyard, this principle carries even more meaning for me. My composted waste literally feeds my soil and my dinner plate.

When I began composting, I wasn't a strong gardener, and I had no plans to become one. But as composting increased my awareness of what I ate and where my food came from, I developed a longing to grow my own food and participate more fully in the cycles of life.

MENTAL WELL-BEING

As a healthcare provider for more than fifteen years, I can attest to the fact that our mental and emotional states also directly affect our physical health. Environmental factors are not the only concern. Medical research has documented the negative effect of stress on our bodies, and stress is a proven contributing factor to illness. Multitasking and complex lifestyles based on the ideas that more is better and keeping up with the Joneses are contributing to a culture of pain, disease, and illness. It is becoming more and more challenging to find time in our lives for simplicity and connection to the natural world. In a world that values convenience, multitasking, and productivity, it can be difficult to find joy associated with simpler times. Stopping to smell the roses, or in this instance, stopping to smell the compost, is more important than ever.

The art of composting, whether working with worms, Bokashi enzymes, or a traditional tumbler, allows us to experience a connection to the natural world and the cycle of life. The inner emotional and mental benefits may be a surprise to many. Reconnecting to textures of food, colors of soil, and smells of the earth feels good! An inner chord is struck when we see a beautiful ripe tomato on the vine, catch the whiff of a lily in bloom, or snack on a snap pea growing right in the yard. In that moment, all of life is complete; nothing is missing.

Often, floods of childhood memories return when I am caring for my worms or shoveling some fresh compost into the garden. As children, many of us were much freer, playing in the dirt, catching bugs, getting our hands dirty, and exploring the natural world around us. We actually saw the little creatures in the dirt and were curious about their existence. Those memories are candy for the brain, bringing back the sweet curiosity of youth and ease of living. If you haven't yet had the chance in life to experience these simple joys, it is never too late to start.

When reconnecting to the natural world, we are reminded of the Earth's inherent wisdom; we feel a little less worried about controlling all the details of the day. Natural forces are at work all around us supporting our needs. Just seeing this can feel like a sigh of relief. If we go a step further and nurture and support these natural forces with our discipline and energy, the process can be a joyful experience. It's joyful to spend time working for a greater good instead of caring only for ourselves, and that goodwill can extend to organisms we can barely see. Taking care of my compost microorganisms and my worms is different than caring for my orange tabby cat. In slowing down and taking the time necessary to care for these new working worms and soil organisms, I have gained new perspective. They are not exactly my companions, like my furry friend; they are my workers, stewards of the environment. Caring for them translates to caring for the creatures around me and caring for the planet. The extra time I take to cut up and wash food scraps that will easily and efficiently be processed by the organisms in my bin is service to the planet. Being open to the world around me and the role I play in its health has become a fulfilling priority. I hope it will do the same for you.

Housing and employing composting worms has enhanced my personal spiritual practice. I hope that Composting Inside & Out will enable you to explore how all forms of composting, including worm composting, enhances and nourishes your life on many varied levels. As individuals, we have choices to make every day about how we want to live our lives, and as anthropologist Margaret Mead stated, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. We are those thoughtful, committed citizens, and we can change the world! Restoring balance in our individual lives and our culture as a whole will take time. But now is the time to start. Be that change! Start composting today.

Introduction

It would be silly for me to deny that I was a tomboy growing up. Not only did I have a subscription to Ranger Rick nature magazine, I also loved to get my hands in the dirt, wade in the creek, pick weed bouquets to sell to neighbors, build tree forts, and catch bugs that would scare my older sister. I held crawdaddy races, fabricated a set of cardboard wings to try to fly off the swing set, and memorized more than twenty birdcalls during hours of bird watching with my aunt Debbie. Did any of this translate into a green thumb as an adult or a lifetime dedicated to environmental activism? Maybe a career in flower arranging or ornithology? Not even close. I have spent the first twenty years of my adult life living in an urban jungle, in various small apartments and condos, working primarily in healthcare. How in the world did I become qualified to write this book about composting? Good question. The same way that you will be able to compost wherever you may live and in whatever lifestyle you currently have — slowly and steadily, little by little, listening to the natural world around you like a child. Learn as you go. Seek out advice from elders and experts in the field. And, most importantly, enjoying getting your hands a little dirty again! Take my advice, I'm also the Urban Worm Girl!

1: Our Trash

Life turns trash into land.

—Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay, What We Leave Behind

Nearly 250 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) was generated in the United States in 2008. That figure is in addition to significant amounts of glass, metals, and plastics that were sent to recycling facilities.¹ This abundance of material ends up in landfills. Most landfills are compacted so tightly that researchers have found twenty-five-year-old corncobs, grapes, and even complete newspapers that can still be read. These organic materials are perfectly compostable and biodegradable, and yet landfills are full of such items. Why aren't we composting it? It's obvious that we need to take a closer look at the way we dispose of our waste, especially our organic waste. The United States is the world's largest generator of waste; each American disposes of close to 4.5 pounds (2kg) of garbage per day!

Organic materials are the largest components of our trash and make up more than two-thirds of the solid waste stream.² In the context of waste and composting, organic material isn't necessarily chemical- or pesticide-free, like it is in the grocery store. Rather organic in this case refers to any material that contains carbon and nitrogen in varying proportions, such as food scraps, yard waste, paper, and manure. In the right environment, these organic materials would break down naturally over time. Unfortunately, a landfill is not the right environment.

Believe it or not, there was a period in U.S. history when there was no trash pickup, no landfills, and no dumps. Before mass production, technological advancement, and views on sanitation changed, things that we consider trash were saved, repurposed, and used to their full potential. Food scraps were fed to the animals, or they were composted and ultimately their nutrients were used to grow food. Even as late as 1842, an estimated ten thousand pigs wandered the streets of New York City eating discarded kitchen scraps thrown from windows and doors. This was an early form of waste management. Apparently it takes seventy-five pigs to eat one ton of garbage per day! Who knew? As our productivity increased and the amount and composition of our trash changed, we needed to develop methods to deal with it, and hence municipal trash service was born.

The practice of repurposing or reusing items was a natural inclination for our ancestors. Individuals creatively and practically made use of their leftovers and waste. They made rags out of old clothing instead of purchasing them; bones were used to make healthy soup, and neighbors even shared their organic waste to feed farm animals or used it to barter for manure to fertilize fields. Garbage had value. When did this change? Over time, as disposable products became more available and as trends changed in the automotive and fashion industries. Consumption increased, changing our definition of trash. The amount of garbage we produce and our need to have it removed has increased. Tools, appliances, and shoes used to be made to last and to be repaired. Today, it is usually cheaper to purchase a brand new item than have it repaired. For example, it's usually cheaper to get a new mobile phone (and even computer) than it is to replace the battery. And honestly, how many people do you know who use a cobbler to repair or replace a worn-out sole?

At some point, we stopped thinking about what was happening to our trash after it left the curb because it was transported out of sight. This distraction proved helpful to all those companies advertising more and better products to replace our old ones. Why look back at something old when we can look ahead toward something bigger and better? And so began our struggles with excessive consumption and our troubles with waste management!

HOW LANDFILLS WORK

Out of sight, out of mind. We dispose of something in a trash bin and never have to think of it again. Until recently, when recycling programs were widely implemented, most Americans functioned within this mindset. All discarded items ended up in dumps and landfills. These enormous piles of discarded stuff started accumulating at a breakneck pace. Organics, inorganics, chemicals, and hazardous industrial materials were all carried away from our homes and businesses and piled up or buried somewhere out of sight. Organized waste removal systems were designed to manage all of this garbage. Progress was upon us, or was it? Did the invention of landfills and the caravans of vehicles hired to fill them just delay the problems? We started storing trash in the depths of the Earth as well as on its surface. How long did we really think this would last? Like many other solutions viewed as progress, short-term gain outweighed long-term problems.

People realized that open dumps, the early version of landfills, were causing sickness in the community. Sanitary, or closed, landfills gradually caught on in the 1930s but got their biggest boost from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which made sanitary landfills the disposal method of choice for military facilities during World War II.³

Today, a landfill is a large, outdoor site designed for the disposal of waste. There are different kinds of landfills that accept different materials. Construction and demolition debris landfills accept only discarded building materials. Other types of landfills include industrial, hazardous waste and land-clearing debris. But generally, the trash and garbage that we throw away every day is disposed of in a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill. Nationwide, the number of active MSW landfills has actually shrunk from nearly eight thousand in 1988 to 1,754 in 2007 according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).⁴ But what landfills lack in numbers is made up in size. Landfills are much bigger today than they were in the past. As such, today's landfills have a much longer lifespan and frequently accept waste from a much larger geographical area. Garbage is often trucked across state borders to come to rest in enormous designated sites.

MSW landfills have improved over time as problems began to arise. They now must be built in suitable geological areas away from fault lines, wetlands, flood plains, and other restricted areas. It eventually became important to protect ground water from the toxins filling these sites. The design of landfills now includes plastic liners and other materials like clay to prevent groundwater contamination from leachate.

When water percolates through the landfill, much like water through your coffeemaker, a soup of toxic chemicals, metals, pathogenic microorganisms, and organic matter is brewed. The resulting brew is leachate. Not only does this liquid build up over time and need to be managed but it also has the potential to leak out of landfills, harming our environment, our planet, and our health. The United States and the European Union now mandate the use of liners in landfills. In some cases, double liners are being used, which limits the likelihood of tears. Organic matter create liquid when it breaks down. If this liquid mixes with chemicals and toxins, it can create dangerous leachate. In this case, even the organics become part of the problem. The toxic chemical soup comprised of contaminated broccoli, potato peels, and carrots no longer breaks down and nourishes the earth with nutrients. The contaminated matter pollutes the planet if free to seep into the soil.

Landfill operators must monitor leachate and test groundwater quality to determine if there is contamination. Landfill daily operation includes compacting and covering waste with several inches of soil or other material to reduce odor, and litter, and control rodents and pests. Closed landfills must have a final cover that includes a synthetic cap and a soil layer. Once the landfill is closed, the responsibility of the landfill operator doesn't end. Landfill operators must set aside funding to provide environmental protection during and after the closing of a landfill. In short, today's landfills are not completely