Compost Bucket via Elaine/Flickr Creative Commons 2.0

Compost for the Climate

Compost Bucket via Elaine/Flickr Creative Commons 2.0
Compost Bucket via Elaine/Flickr Creative Commons 2.0

According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, food waste makes up one-quarter of our state’s trash. That means your biodegradable apple cores and other plant based materials are needlessly taking up space in landfills and causing negative environmental impacts. But there’s an easy fix. Enter composting.

Composting is not new. In fact, as long as plants have been growing, compost has been happening. What do you think happens to all those leaves that fall off the trees in the forests? That’s right –- Mother Nature is the original compost queen!

Any good farmer will tell you that good compost is one of the best soil amendments around. What you should also know is that composting helps alleviate climate change.

Ready to take action? Sign the pledge and start composting. Or keep reading to learn more.

It Works Like This

When organic materials like food and yard waste break down in a compost pile, with plenty of air and water present, the carbon that is released is stored in the new compost, instead of being sent out into the atmosphere. This carbon sequestration –- keeping the carbon “locked up” — helps reduce the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change.

If those same organic materials break down in a landfill, greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are released, contributing to warming our planet.

An Easy to Access Solution

According to calculations from Project Drawdown, an estimated 38% of food waste was composted in the U.S. in 2015. In the European Union, that number is much higher: nearly 57%.

Compost can happen on large or small scales. Some cities already collect household food waste. In 2009, San Francisco passed an ordinance that makes composting the city’s food waste mandatory. In Copenhagen, Denmark they have not sent organic waste to landfill for more than 25 years

Many towns in Massachusetts have a compost facility or “stump dump” for yard waste that homeowners and landscapers can use. They won’t take your kitchen waste of course, but it’s not hard to compost in your own yard.

How to Compost at Home

There are a few ways to compost. If you want reduce your waste and get all of the resulting “black gold” dirt, you can set up a compost pile relatively easily at home — find out how. Or, you can take advantage of curbside composting with companies like Black Earth, Dirty Boys, and Bootstrap Compost. In some towns, you can even drop off diverted food materials. 

Interested in learning more about composting basics and the relevant Massachusetts facilities, check out the resources provided by Mass DEP

Pledge to Compost

If each one of us reduces our personal carbon footprint through composting, it can lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across the state.  

I pledge to start composting at my home or in my garden. If I am already composting as an individual, I will work with my school, employer, or community group to set up a pilot composting program in the next 6 months. 

Sign the pledge >

Updated May 30, 2019 to include Bootstrap Compost.

Tree Swallow © Steve Nikola

Take 5: Nest Builders

The varied landscapes of Massachusetts provide nesting spots for nearly 200 bird species and spring is prime time for nest-building and brooding. You may have seen birds flitting back and forth with beaks full of twigs, grasses, and even plastic refuse to fortify their nests, which may pop up in any number of familiar or surprising places around your home and neighborhood.

A number of bird species nest on balconies and building ledges or in the nooks and crannies of houses. Observing these nests can be a source of enjoyment, and native species that eat insects, such as chimney swifts, barn swallows, and cliff swallows, help with pest control.

Sometimes, however, nesting behavior can bring birds into conflict with people, especially if birds construct a nest in an inconvenient or unsafe location in or around your house. Read our guide to Nests In & On Buildings and remember that relocating an active nest is really not an option—not only will bird parents abandon a relocated nest, it’s against federal and state law to disturb the nest of a native species.

To help you enjoy the bustling activity of nesting birds this spring, here are five photos of birds doing just that, all submitted to our annual Picture This: Your Great Outdoors photo contest.

Baltimore Oriole © Myer Bornstein
Baltimore Oriole © Myer Bornstein
Rose-breasted Grosbeak © Derek Allad
Rose-breasted Grosbeak © Derek Allad
Osprey © Terri Nickerson
Osprey © Terri Nickerson
Baltimore Oriole (female) © Marcy Setter
Baltimore Oriole (female) © Marcy Setter
Tree Swallow © Steve Nikola
Tree Swallow © Steve Nikola