HOME COMPOSTING: WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT?

Home compostable packaging is a growth industry, but it needs to be disposed correctly.

Here’s a fact for you: food scraps, garden waste, and yes, your home-compostable packaging, sent to landfill will degrade anaerobically (which is a fancy word for – compacted and buried). Which means that if compostable materials end up in the landfill, they won’t have any oxygen to help it break down, and this creates methane gas. Some studies report that methane gas is about 25x more potent than carbon dioxide – eek!

That’s a little frightening. But changing how we manage our waste is not!

Picture this: You have a home composting system. It uses oxygen, bacteria and fungi to break down the organic matter. And BOOM, you have rich nutrient-filled composted material which is hugely beneficial to the environment. It’s not only beneficial because it reduces waste in the landfill, methane gas, and lowers your carbon footprint, but it is also a crucial part of the nitrogen cycle. Then all of a sudden, you’re a clean, green, superhero.

All you have to do then is put that rich, glorious compost into your home vegetable garden, and bingo, it’ll reward you with plentiful-nutrient rich food for your pantry.

If that’s not enough, some more benefits to composting are:

Adds nutrients to the soil.

Introduces valuable organisms to the soil; microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi to decompose organic material.

Recycles kitchen and yard waste.

Reduces landfill waste, methane and your carbon footprint.

It’s good for the environment.

Provides a disposal solution for used home-compostable packaging.

So, now you know what all the fuss is about, and you know what to do with compostable material and why it’s so important to do it correctly. Unfortunately this isn’t common knowledge, but it should be, so spread the word!

At Brandhub, we are Eco-Enthusiasts and designers in one happy bundle. When it comes to making a positive step towards change in packaging, we are here to help hello@brandhub.co.nz

Please note we do not claim to own any of the images featured on this page.