This week is International Compost Awareness Week (May 2nd to 8th).
It showcases how recycling organic wastes into compost can benefit the environment and people by locking up carbon in soil, returning nutrients to degraded land while also supporting food security and improved nutrition.
“ISWA’s work on quantifying the benefits of applying quality compost to soil has been used by these respected national composting organisations to underpin their message that compost helps store carbon in soil. To date, this important factor has not been given the full attention it deserves. Composting is an important tool to help societies manage organic wastes and, just as importantly, to sequester carbon and improve soil productivity. This not only underpins improved food security, but it is also a valuable tool in our battle to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
Our working group is proud to have played a pivotal role in helping to spread the composting message through the Soils Project. We will continue to work with ISWA members to improve our knowledge base and communicate the benefits of recycling organic wastes.”
Globally, composting currently:
- Recycles 83 million tonnes of biowaste every year.
- Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents a year through storing carbon in soil and offsetting fertilizer use.
- Recycles 1 million tonnes of plant macro nutrients.
These annual benefits could be increased over 12-fold, if the world’s biowaste were collected separately and composted.
The four reports from the soils project can be accessed here:
Read also this article addressing the benefits of Soil published in Waste Management World:
