© Wayne: WANE ft.FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WEAN) - Wednesday is Stop Food Waste Day to raise awareness of the importance of reducing food waste. One solution to reduce waste is composting.
Composting is the process of collecting plant material and food waste and turning it into garden compost. Things like leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, fruit and vegetable scraps can all be used for compost. Other food scraps that can be used are coffee grounds, egg shells, and nuts. You can also find cardboard, shredded paper and hair in the compost.
Fort Wayne gardening expert and educator Ricky Kemmery says composting is a great way to reuse soil nutrients.
"Over time, everything will be fertilized. It's part of our natural system," Chemeri says. "If you look at the forest and you see the leaves falling off the trees, they're fertilizing the soil and recycling the nutrients back into the trees."
What you can't use for composting is meat scraps or animal products.
Composting can provide many benefits, including improving soil structure, fertility and disease resistance of plants. Jemery said it's important to have a mix of green and brown material in the system to warm it up and convert it from grass clippings to material the soil can hold.
"The idea is that your compost should be 4 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet, so there are bins to accommodate that," Kemery said. “You have to create a lot of pressure to heat materials properly. Heat can kill pathogens.
Ķemeri prefers a layered system, also called a lasagna garden, that uses a raised bed and layers of compost beforehand.
“The material you put down will fertilize over time and be the best and cheapest soil you can get,” he said. "It's also helpful to use overgrown plant debris or weeds as green material."
It's important to keep the compost moist, especially if you include dry grass or leaves. The Farmer's Almanac recommends spraying with water when the summer is dry.
For people looking to get started in composting, he recommends visiting the university's website to find out how to get started.
“People have to decide what kind of system they want to use and decide where they want to put it. You want partial sun, not full sun, so it won't dry out too quickly,” Chemeri said. “The benefits of this are huge. You're reusing food waste that would otherwise be burned or thrown away.”
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