Turning Garbage Into New Earth

17 Turning Garbage Into New Earth My father is a quiet and reserved man. He has his opinions, but he usually keeps them to himself. Don't get me wrong. If you ask him for advice, he is always willing to share his wisdom with you. But, he goes about his business without too much fuss. There is one thing though that really gets him excited. Just mention the word “ garbage" to him! He is passionate about garbage. Or should I say, he is passionate about solving the garbage problem! Dad believes that time is running out as far as garbage goes. " We have become a 'throw-away' society, " he says. " We buy and buy, and then we throw it away. We can't keep doing this. Garbage is everybody's problem. " My father doesn't just talk about it though. When he sees a problem, he tries to find a solution.

Last year, my father decided to do something about all the wasted food we were throwing away. An average family produces nearly 500 pounds of food waste each year. We peel our potatoes and throw away the skins. We eat an apple and throw away the core. Imagine how that piles up in our landfill sites! Don't worry, though. There is something that we can do about it. Food waste is known as “ organic matter" . If properly handled, it can be changed from garbage to a rich, dark earth known as compost. This compost can be added to vegetable gardens to make the plants grow really well. “ We are going to start composting our food waste, " Dad announced one night at dinner. " I purchased a compost bin today. From now on, instead of throwing all our food waste in the garbage, we will put it in the compost bin. Mother Nature will slowly turn it from garbage into earth. In a few months, we will have rich and beautiful compost material to add to our garden. " It took a while to get used to it, but soon, we were taking our food waste to the compost bin in the backyard. In three months, we opened the lid. We found it full of nutrient-rich new earth!