WHO KNEW Even the Roman Empire Composted?

People have been composting for thousands of years. The practice of using “waste”, especially manure and plant scraps, to enrich soil is nothing new. A quick, online search will turn up various accounts of ancient societies discovering the benefits of decomposing organic matter to boost horticultural efforts. The Roman general, Cato, writing in the 1st century BC, advocates composting in his “De Agri Cultura” (Concerning the Culture of the Fields).

Suffice it to say that 21st century composters are walking well-trodden ground, so to speak. And there’s a good reason that the tradition of composting has endured. Decomposing food scraps, mixed with grass clippings (wet, nitrogen-rich, green items) and leaves, twigs and paper (dry, carbon-rich, brown items) eventually create a nutrient-rich material which helps to improve the fertility of soil, thereby benefiting plants in your garden.

What are the other benefits of composting? One of the biggest is keeping food waste out of your trash bin and out of landfills. When added to landfill, food waste decomposes and produces methane—a potent greenhouse gas—as well as CO2. Even landfills which have systems to capture methane, such as the Lebanon facility, still emit methane into the environment. Another benefit to composting is water conservation. Soil high in organic matter retains water better than more degraded soil.

Beginning in the mid-1960’s, my parents had a compost pile in the backyard woods of our in-town Hanover home, and all household food waste, with the exception of meat scraps, was tossed on the pile. Crows and squirrels were frequent foragers to the pile, but we never had a bear or evidence of any large animals disturbing the pile, which was only about 20 feet from the house. This form of composting takes a relatively long time to create a material you can spread on your garden. Whether you throw your scraps in an open pile, build a wooden, open bin to better contain the scraps, or use a closed system barrel design, there are several ways to do your own backyard composting. A good site to explore these options can be found here: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/composting-101.

Alternatively, you can have your food scraps picked up by a service (see Nordic at https://werecyclefood.com) or take them yourself to someone who will compost them for you. I take my food waste to my local csa (community supported agriculture). This has the added benefit of my being able to take all food scraps—meat included—which I couldn’t put in my backyard pile where it would have attracted unwanted visitors. You can now also drop off food scraps at the Lebanon landfill (https://lebanonnh.gov/1464/)

Want more tips on how to compost? Come to Sustainable Hanover’s Earth Week Fair (in conjunction with Dartmouth’s Sustainability Office) on Saturday, April 26, 3-5 PM, at the Richmond Middle School where local composting guru, Cat Buxton, (https://www.growmorewasteless.com) will be available to answer questions.

Robin Kaiser added information and described her parents’ compost pile.