Benefits of Using and Recycling Green Waste
By Diana Smith
Gardening and landscaping require a lot of fertilizer so your plants can grow healthy and strong. A lot of people waste money on buying artificial fertilizers, but what they don’t realize is that their gardens are full of rich and valuable compost, mulch, etc. We are, of course, talking about green or biodegradable waste. Green waste is everything that is left after gardening and landscaping work, including grass clippings, leaves, hedge trimmings, weeds, plants, flowers, etc.
Practically any biodegradable material that can be broken down naturally by bacteria can be very useful. The majority of people don’t know the benefits of using green waste and that is why we are here. In this article, we will explain some of the biggest advantages of using biodegradable green waste and how recycling it can be useful for us and the environment.
Great source of nutrients for the soil
The number one benefit of green waste is its ability to turn into a rich and nutrient fertilizer. The whole process starts by producing green waste when mowing your lawn, trimming your bushes, leaves falling off, etc. Instead of scooping everything up and tossing it into a trash bin you can do one of these creative things.
First of all, you can create compost from leaves, grass, flowers and other plant leftovers. The key to creating compost is to pick everything up and put it on one pile. The process of turning this into compost is natural and it will take some time. Just make sure that no diseased plants are tossed in there because that would increase the chance of infecting the whole pile.
The second option is to leave grass clippings on the grass. In this case, grass clippings will naturally break down and enrich the soil with nutrients and other healthy minerals. This process is called “Grasscycling”. The third and final option includes leaves. After the rain, a lot of leaves fall off and wet leaves are a great way to produce mulch. If you scoop up the leaves and leave them to rot on one pile, they will eventually decay and produce a mulch, which can be used as a fertilizer.
Reduces bad smells
We all know that everything that is rotting leaves a bad smell, including green waste. The majority of green waste ends up in landfills. In these environments, biodegradable waste responds a little bit differently than man-made products.
It degrades in such a way that it produces odorous gases and methane. If you don’t have any particular use for your green waste than it is better to take it to a recycling plant. There are companies like JNS Skip Bins that are offering services for skip bin hire in Penrith. They will take your green waste and transport it to a factory that will recycle it into a rich fertilizer.
Reduces greenhouse gases
Lastly, if you recycle green waste you will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. As we said before, when green waste is taken to a landfill, it will produce methane and other odorous gases. When it comes to global warming methane is especially dangerous for Earth’s atmosphere. It has 25 times stronger effect than carbon dioxide.
If you recycle it yourself or send it to a recycling factory you are preventing it from reaching a landfill and thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As you can see green waste has a lot of benefits for us if we recycle it. Regardless of what you choose to do with your green waste, don’t toss it in your trash, otherwise, it will end up in a landfill, producing all bad gases that we talked about.
