1. DECREASE LANDFILL WASTE

Food is the number one material sent to landfills. We throw out 40% of our food each year and it’s not just food we are throwing away - it's also the water, energy, hard work and natural resources used to grow food that we are essentially putting in the trash.

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2. CUT DOWN ON AIR POLLUTION

Food scraps in a landfill get trapped under other garbage and have little or no access to oxygen so that when they break down, the greenhouse gas methane is released. Methane traps between 20 to 80 times more heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. In large quantities, methane emissions can interfere with the atmosphere’s ability to self-regulate and maintain the temperatures that sustain life as we know it.

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3. REPLACE ERODING TOPSOIL

Our entire civilization is based on a layer of topsoil only inches thick. Topsoil is the upper, outermost layer of our soil. It is filled with microorganisms and organic content, providing all the nutrients for most of our plants. Topsoil is eroding at a rate of 5/100 of an inch per year. Doesn’t sound like a lot? On average, the planet is covered by only 3 feet of topsoil and in many areas it is only between 2 and 8 inches thick. At current erosion rates, some say that topsoil will be completely gone from many of our growing fields in the next 60 years.

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4. DECREASE WATER POLLUTION

Compost decreases the pollution of our drinking water supply by reducing the need for excess fertilizer which can leach into groundwater or drain off agricultural fields, contaminating our rivers and oceans. Compost slowly releases its store of nutrients so they are consistently available as plants need them throughout the growing cycle. Most chemical applications fertilize in one giant flush and must be applied over and over again in greater and greater concentrations.

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5. CONSERVE SCARCE WATER RESOURCES

Organic matter in compost increases the water-holding capacity of soil so that plants require less watering.