Natural Perspectives -- Vic Leipzig and Lou Murray
Vic has been pestering me to get one for a long time, so I finally got
him one for his birthday this year.
An SUV? A trip to Europe? A big power tool? No, those barely make it
onto his radar screen.
Vic is a pretty simple guy. He merely wanted a home composter. He
dreamed of turning our kitchen scraps and green yard waste into rich,
brown humus because it’s great for growing vegetables and flowers.
Composting also reduces curbside waste and lessens the impact on
overburdened landfills.
Over the years, we’ve considered various methods of composting, but
none seemed really suited to our lifestyle. Some composters have rotating
drums, but they looked bulky and awkward to use. Composting in an open
circular container of hardware cloth is inconvenient because it dries out
too rapidly and often doesn’t get warm enough for proper decomposition to
take place. Big open piles of compost are OK in a huge yard, but we don’t
have room for that style of composting.
In the past, we’ve spaded some of our kitchen waste directly into our
vegetable garden, usually in the winter when the garden is dormant. Over
the years, our soil has become soft and crumbly, a far cry from the hard
clay we started with. While this was better than not composting at all,
we really couldn’t dispose of much of our green waste in this fashion.
Bags of autumn leaves have always gone straight into the trash, as have
hedge clippings, dead plants, and most of our kitchen waste. Although
Rainbow Disposal is able to recycle some of this green waste, much still
goes to the landfill.
Despite Vic’s plea for a more environmentally conscious solution to
our kitchen and yard waste problem, we remained without a composting
system. But when I saw an assemble-it-yourself composting bin at a local
garden center recently, I knew that was the solution for Vic’s birthday
present.
This rectangular composter is perfect for our small Southern
California yard. It’s 22 inches, square at the base and stands a little
over three feet tall. The removable top has two hinged lids that make it
easy to add material. The heavy-duty, open-bottomed container is made of
100% recycled black plastic. It holds in heat and moisture, yet it has
vents on all sides to provide essential aeration. A sliding door on the
front lets us scoop out finished compost from the bottom while continuing
to add more raw materials through the top.
Vic assembled the pieces of the composter in short order. We followed
the instructions that came with it, adding layers of dried leaves between
the green waste layers. We shoveled in an occasional layer of dirt to
provide the soil organisms necessary for proper breakdown of the organic
waste. Then we watered it all to get it started. Compost is a living
culture that needs moisture, warmth, air, and nutrients for proper
breakdown of the plant material.
Day by day, we add our kitchen waste. I was surprised to learn that
the two of us generate nearly a half-gallon of fruit and vegetable
peelings, coffee grounds, eggshells, and other kitchen scraps every day.
When I add the kitchen waste to the composter, I put it under a layer of
grass or leaves to discourage flies. We don’t compost meats, bones, or
grease because they attract pests.
We use a three-tined garden fork to lift the layers every so often to
increase aeration. We add enough water to make sure the pile stays damp
but not soggy. The system must be working, because the compost smells
good and earthy, and is pest-free.
I thought for sure the bin would fill within a couple of weeks at the
rate we produce green waste, but decomposition reduces its bulk. The pile
shrinks as though by magic. It stays at about the same level even though
we add to it daily. Vic lifted the front door the other day and found
that the bottom layer was almost ready to use. To speed the composting
process, he turned the entire contents of the bin over, mixing the moist
bottom layer that was rich in microorganisms into the drier top layers.
Our first compost should be ready to use soon.
In the few weeks that we’ve had our composter, we’ve kept many gallons
of kitchen waste out of the sewer system and several bags of green yard
waste out of the landfills. This contribution isn’t much, but if everyone
had a compost bin, trash haulers and their big diesel trucks could make
fewer trips to the landfill. That would help reduce air pollution as well
as save space in the landfill. By making our own compost instead of
buying it, we’re also reducing the amount of commercial compost that will
need to be hauled into town. If more people composted their yard and
kitchen waste, it might make a significant difference.
Vic really likes his present. As a biologist, he’s actually enjoying
watching our green waste decompose into brown gold for the garden. Don’t
make too much fun of him.
* VIC LEIPZIG PhD and LOU MURRAY PhD are Huntington Beach residents
and environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .
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