Benefits of composting

The advantages of home composting for you and your garden are:

it saves money by avoiding having to buy peat based composts from garden centres
adding compost to clay soils makes the soil drain better
adding compost to sandy soils can help the soil retain more moisture
compost can help produce healthier plants which are more resistant to pests and diseases therefore reducing the need for chemical pesticides
most of the nutrients needed by garden plants can be provided by compost therefore reducing the need for chemical fertilisers

Home composting also has a number of environmental benefits including:

most commercially produced composts are peat based; using your own compost reduces the amount of peat extracted from peat bogs
many peat bogs contain rare and endangered species
extracting peat from these areas can lead to irreversible damage and loss of wildlife
less waste in the bins means fewer emissions from refuse collection vehicles
reduces the amount of organic waste that is deposited in landfill sites. In a landfill site, organic waste breaks down and forms a liquid (leachate) which can escape form a landfill site and pollute the environment

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