Hm. Something really wound me up yesterday, and I was intending to blog about it. Can't remember what it was for the life of me now. Goes to prove something, anyway.
Instead, a question. A question which has bugged me for a while, though I've never really looked into the answer, mainly because I don't know what I'm talking about and therefore don't know where to start.
So... simplifying the household waste situation somewhat, you get degradable and non-degradable rubbish. Degradable stuff, vegetable food waste for example, is usually quite good to stick in your compost, and the non-degradable stuff is what ends up at the landfill, or is recycled, usually the former.
Only non-degradable rubbish isn't really... it just takes a very very long time to break down.
Now I had always assumed that organic matter had some sort of impact upon this action, helping nasty plastic stuff to break down a little quicker... exactly the sort of stuff we're taking out of our bins to stick in the garden compost and never do anything with. So landfills are go to get larger and larger at an ever-increasing rate, and be around for much much longer because we think we're being kind to the environment by sticking potato peelings in our garden.
Are composts killing the planet, or have I got it all wrong?
3 comments:
A very interesting observation.
My guess is that with less organic matter, they can start building flats (sorry, _executive appartments_) on it sooner. :)
yes we are all doomed to do a naked conga into extinction
Erm, pass!
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