COMPOSTING and THE ENVIRONMENT

The case for home composting

Composting is widely seen as an environmentally responsible alternative to burying kitchen and garden organic waste in landfills where it generates methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Home composting avoids the energy resources and the carbon emissions required to transport and process waste organic material at a central site. Making compost at home can reduce pollution. It contributes to a cleaner environment by reducing the need for bonfires and also reduces the destruction of peatland habitats whose wild life are endangered through the use of peat instead of using home made compost.

Composting helps us reduce our carbon footprint!

But is it as good as it's made out to be?

Home composting in most traditional bins only works if the waste material is regularly lifted and turned to allow oxygen into the mix. Many busy households don't do this because it takes time and effort and also because this turning process mixes mature compost with newer waste requiring the material to be sieved. So it’s quite likely that, in conventional bins, waste material will sit in a compressed pile on the ground where it rots and becomes smelly. This means the material is decomposing anaerobically, producing methane. And there’s growing evidence that wormeries may be contributing to greenhouse gas through the production of nitrous oxide, which is several hundred times more potent than carbon dioxide.  Home composting, therefore, makes most sense when it's ‘aerobic’ - when oxygen is introduced to the decomposing food and garden waste.

The case for the aerobic Earthmaker

The Earthmaker is the most efficient means of disposing of domestic organic waste – it offers "traditional three-bin composting, but with the chambers on top of each other, gravity does the hard work!" The design of the bin means that composting is easier, faster and more convenient. New waste is kept separate from mature compost and only a few minutes each month are needed to move waste down through the three chambers. It also composts aerobically. This is achieved by holding material off the ground in the upper chambers during the initial decomposition stages which allows the heat created to draw air up through the material. Air-vents ensure the decomposing waste materials are bathed in oxygen as they spill from shelf to shelf, eliminating the production of greenhouse gases.

Home composting made easy!

In the battle against climate change it is generally agreed that we need to reduce the amount of domestic organic waste being sent to landfill and that the best way to accomplish this is to increase the penetration of home composting. Most households would take up composting if the process didn’t seem so much like dirty, hard work. But that’s why the Earthmaker was invented. It makes composting easier and cleaner and the clever design means gravity does the hard work. For those households with both kitchen and garden waste to dispose of and that want to save money, grow healthier plants and make a contribution to climate change, The Earthmaker could be the perfect solution.