Yard Waste Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide

Yard Waste To Generate Garden Compost

By Pixie Matthews

Many towns and cities of all sizes are encouraging people to bring their yard debris and green waste in to central recycling centers so that the yard waste can be composted.

The main purpose of these efforts is to reduce the burden on the landfills, while at the same time providing recycling composting fertilizer for public parks and facilities. In some municipalities, people can "trade in" their yard debris for compost that they can use on their own property.

Organic Waste Recycling And Benefits Of Composting

This use of yard waste on a municipal level has helped to reduce the burden on the landfills, while making people more aware of the importance of organic waste recycling and of the benefits of composting.

At the same time, the parks and recreational departments are able to cut their budgets for fertilizer and soil treatments by utilizing the compost to treat and improve the soil in the parks. Some cities also use the compost to support the community vegetable garden projects as well.

Most Yard Waste Is Leaves, Grass, Shrub and Hedge Trimmings

In most cases the largest portion of raw materials comes from the local yard waste which is a combination of leaves, lawn and grass clipping, shrub and hedge trimmings, and very small, pruned branches from trees.

In addition, the larger branches and even small trees can be ground up and the mulch can go on the compost heap as well as the crop of Christmas trees that are shredded each year.

Compost Your Own Yard Debris

Of course, individual households can easily compost their yard debris as well, without needing to either wait for the pick-up schedule or for their municipality to institute such a program.

Backyard composting is quite simple to start and there are compost bins available on the market for those with small or large backyards. Even those who live in apartments can enjoy the benefits of recycling their organic kitchen waste.

Home Composting Better Than Public Composting Piles

In fact, home composting can be a better solution. This is because most municipalities exclude certain organic waste products from the public composting piles that can readily be added to your composting project.

For instance, at home you can include newspaper, coffee grounds, crushed eggshells, fruit rinds and vegetable peels. Most of the time you cannot include any of these items with your yard waste for curbside pickup.

With backyard composting, you can include all of these items right alongside of your yard waste and debris and throw it all right on your compost heap. However, you should never include animal meat, bones, pet feces, or any dairy products. These waste items will simply attract vermin and pests to your backyard and interfere with the decomposition process.

It has been estimated that by separating yard waste from other garbage and turning that organic material into compost, municipalities are able to reduce the amount of trash that is sent to their landfills by up to 20%, depending on the season.

This can help to make a significant difference for the future and at the very least buy some time while the decision makers figure out how to deal with the landfill issues. At the very least, every homeowner can do their part by either composting their green waste themselves or separating it and putting it out for municipal pickup.

About the Author:
Pixie Matthews has written a number of articles on gardening and landscaping including Organic Vegetable Gardening Products, Vegetable Gardening Tips, Spring Vegetable Gardening, Compost For Your Vegetable Garden, Vegetable Gardening Tricks, Composting, Vegetable Gardening Tricks.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.

Little Known Composting Facts....

Do I need to water or turn my compost pile over?
Composting works best when the leaves and other materials remain moist. You do not want the material pile soaking wet but you do want it moist enough to aid the decomposition process. Once you wet the top layers, take a pitch fork and begin turning the pile over. Each time you reach a dry layer make sure and spray the area with water before turning over a new layer.

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