Reading this article gave me a lot of insight and new information about compost. I had heard of comps before and of a few people who do it. I thought it was pretty simple, take food scraps like banana peels, egg shells, fruit cores, etc. and use them in your gardens instead of sending them to the dump, but I had no idea how useful and sustainable it could be on a large scale. Having food scraps thrown in a dump amongst other trash causes the release of methane gas. However if you separate your compost and have it sent to a plant where it can be broken down by aerobic digestion can be beneficial in two separate categories: the broken down food waste makes incredible fertilizer, and it can produce a biogas similar to natural gas that can be used for heat and electricity. That’s actually so incredible. Food composting, especially at such a large scale, can really be a great step in the right direction for the future of the planet in terms of sustainability and energy. The old scraps can go back into the earth to grow more plants in the form of fertilizer, and it can give us an alternative energy source so we don’t need to use expensive and harmful coal and other natural gasses. I hope the future utilizes compositing much more so we can take a step in the right direction towards sustainability. In my opinion, there is no downfall or negative side of composting. In class, we spoke about how tackling a wicked problem starts off by breaking it up into smaller pieces. Composting can be one part of our huge issue with waste. Obviously recycling and plastic production is a massive part of the waste issue, but composting provides a direct solution for a portion of that issue: food waste.
