>”Composting is about creating good, healthy dirt. It is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden and yard soil. It can enrich gardens, improve the soil around trees and shrubs, and be used as a soil additive for house plants and planter boxes. Insects, earthworms, bacteria, and fungi help in transforming this material into compost. It is a way you can recycle your yard and kitchen wastes, and is a critical step in reducing the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills for disposal. Yard and food wastes make up approximately 30% of the waste stream in the United States. Composting most of these waste streams would reduce the amount of municipal wastes requiring disposal by almost one fourth. ” (Healthy Families)
Environmental Benefits
Compost use can result in a variety of environmental benefits. The following are a few of the most important benefits:
Compost enriches soils
Compost has the ability to help regenerate poor soils. The composting process encourages the production of beneficial micro-organisms (mainly bacteria and fungi) which in turn break down organic matter to create humus. Humus–a rich nutrient-filled material–increases the nutrient content in soils and helps soils retain moisture. Compost has also been shown to suppress plant diseases and pests, reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers, and promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
Compost helps cleanup (remediate) contaminated soil
The composting process has been shown to absorb odors and treat semivolatile and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including heating fuels, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and explosives. It has also been shown to bind heavy metals and prevent them from migrating to water resources or being absorbed by plants. The compost process degrades and, in some cases, completely eliminates wood preservatives, pesticides, and both chlorinated and nonchlorinated hydrocarbons in contaminated soils.
Compost helps prevent pollution
Composting organic materials that have been diverted from landfills ultimately avoids the production of methane and leachate formulation in the landfills. Compost has the ability to prevent pollutants in stormwater runoff from reaching surface water resources. Compost has also been shown to prevent erosion and silting on embankments parallel to creeks, lakes, and rivers, and prevents erosion and turf loss on roadsides, hillsides, playing fields, and golf courses.
Using compost offers economic benefits
Using compost can reduce the need for water, fertilizers, and pesticides. It serves as a marketable commodity and is a low-cost alternative to standard landfill cover and artificial soil amendments. Composting also extends municipal landfill life by diverting organic materials from landfills and provides a less costly alternative to conventional methods of remediating (cleaning) contaminated soil.
(Environmental Protection Agency)
>ALL I CAN SAY IS THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD IS VERY LUCKY TO HAVE SUCH A PLACE LIKE THE SITE ON LAKEVIEW,DR.THANKS RIDGEWOOD.
>You must live nearby… and while composting is important… dont hide the fact that the Village has financed a nice private little dog-walk for you and your pooch.
Can you say “Lights, Cameras, Soccer Fields!!!”
>what the hell is rong with you.grow up.you you sound like your 12.time will tell lets see what will happen at the time we all meet.hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
>soccer soccer everywhere… soccer, soccer we all care! How about 10 yrs old? Coming to a field near you… actually right in your backyard.
>isnt soccer a girls sport anyway?
>IF THE VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD GETS RIDE OF THE COMPOST SITE.THAT WOULD BE ONE OF THE WORST THINGS THAT EVER HAPPEND TO THE TOWN IN50.YEARS.TRUST ME IT SAVES THE TOWN MORE THEN YOU THINK.AND ITS OVER AMILL.AND IAM NOT FOOLIN WITH YOU.MANY YEARS AGO THE TOWN HAD A PRICE TO LET SOME ONE ELSE JUST COME IN AND RUN THE HOLE THING AND THE LOW BID WAS WAY OVER A,MILL,AND AHAFE.SO ALLYOU SOCCER FANS CAN YOU SAV THE TOWN OVER A MILL.I DONT THINK SO.YOUR OLD TIME BOSS.YOU NO WHO.
>sounds like you’re full of a bit of compost yourself, Old Boss.
Or maybe you live on Lakeview and you’re loading a lot of B/S to get people worked up?
If true, we’ll all find out soon enough, as the Village wont add a million dollars a year to gain fields. Dont worry. We all know that.
Or, if your full of it… will you be at the meeting with hard facts? Or hide under a rock..eeeee compost pile?
Happy Thanksgiving.
>Compost over by Hawes parking lot…? Isn’t a large aquifier located under that area…?
>The compost site on Lakeview Drive is going to stay there for at least 5 more years to full fill a contract.
>No composting near Hawes, just a transfer station. Village trucks would drop at Hawes where the leaves would be loaded onto tractor trailers. The trailers would be taken to a commercial compost facility.
>now that is a dum way of doing biz.are you thinking or is your head up your ass.the town makes compost from what we pick.if wetransfer it out of town that means you are puting workers out of work.so that is not a good plan.just leve the site on lakeview dr and tell the yuppys to take a walk back to ny.
>dont you wory about a thing we will allways compost.thats the way it will be done,and maybe we should compost at maple park,ha,ha,
>i,ll be at the meeting dont you wory my little pain in the ass.
>COMPOST FOR LIFE THATS THE WAY AND THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE RIDGEWOOD A LOT OF MONEY.COME ON WAKE UP.
>YOU ARE ON THE BALL.BRO.
>A BRO, I THINK YOU NO WHO SHOULD GO TO THAT A GIVE THEM A NICE BIG KICK IN THE ASS.HA,HAMAND HE WOULD DO THAT TO SEE YA.
>I KNOW WHO SHOULD GO?YEAH HIM.BUT THEY DONT WONT HIM TO GO BECA– USE YOUR RITE ABOUT THAT HE WOULD TELL THEM A THING OR TO.BUT YOU NO THEY KNOW IT ALL.