It’s as easy as taking out the trash, Tom Basden says.
And it couldn’t be better for the environment.
Basden, a specialist with WVU Extension, is talking about composting, which is nature’s own recycling program.
If you aren’t familiar, just think back to your walk on the rail-trail this past autumn. Each leaf that fell from a tree during your jaunt was a mini compost factory unto itself.
Said leaf landed on the ground, where it eventually disintegrated to a mulch, which helped provide a protective covering to the natural floor.
As it decomposed, it added its nutrients to the soil.
Twigs and other small bits of wood factored in, as did the peel from that banana you didn’t know your kid tossed over his shoulder as you were watching the squirrels.
All that leaching, in a good way, means life.
Especially for those who turn the earth for fun and profit.
The agrarian history of composting dates back to the Stone Age.
At least 12,000 years ago on the British Isles, evidence shows that Scottish famers embraced the practice after happily discovering it could only improve their crop yields.
In America’s more-recent history, word in the furrows is that first president and first farmer George Washington also carried the water for composting.
His vegetable gardens at Mount Vernon were the site of many a compost experiment, as he noted.
Basden, meanwhile, will tell you everything you want to know about home composting in Morgantown next month at a workshop sponsored by Recycle Right Morgantown. Visit https://recyclerightmorgantown.com/ for more information on composting and other upcoming events.
The session will be from 10-11 a.m. May 21 at the City of Morgantown Garage on M-Tec Drive. Another is scheduled for June 25.
A session last week brought 30 people out — with four times as many questions, Basden said.
“It was a good group,” he said.
A good group for a practice that’s good for the environment, he added.
Taking organic food waste out of your garbage bags and putting on your compost pile is good for the environment, Basden said.
In landfills, he said, such wastes break down to form methane gas, which leads to climate change.
On compost piles, organic leavings mean rich soil, lush yards and good gardens, he said.
“It’s really easy once you get started,” the extension agent added.
A few years back, Basden took a sabbatical from work. Given his expertise, it was only natural that he would journey to the British Isles — where composting is still king.
Watching the trash pick-up was a revelation, he said.
Households automatically sorted their trash, he recounted: Organic waste in one can — “garbage” garbage in the other.
“They’d pick up the organic waste every week,” he said.
“It was every two weeks for the other can. Composting is definitely a societal thing over there.”
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