Techchange has started composting!

We are proud to announce that TechChange has joined the composting movement! Starting in August, we will be dropping off our compostable waste at DC’s Common Good City Farm each week. At Techchange, we strive to embody green habits.

Take a look at a few benefits of composting below!

1. Composting can divert waste sent to landfills and help ameliorate climate change. Every day, the average American produces 4.4 pounds of MSW (Municipal Solid Waste), a quarter of which could be composted, according to the World Bank. Each year the US produces 133 billion pounds of food waste, much of which is produced by supermarkets throwing away food, but some of which is also due to household waste. All of this food waste releases harmful gases in landfills like methane, which contributes to climate change. Last September, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture announced its first-ever food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030. If we are to reach that goal, everyone is going to have to get on board with composting.
2. Composting improves local soil quality. Recapturing the nutrients from compost reduces the need for artificial fertilizers, which in turn helps fish and other water creatures. How? Artificial fertilizers used on farms and in gardens often runoff into streams and rivers when it rains, adding an excess of nitrogen (a primary component in artificial fertilizer) to the water. This is called nitrogen eutrophication. When there is an excess of nitrogen, this promotes algae growth, and too much algae can make the water too cloudy for sun to reach plants growing on the bottom of lakes and estuaries, in turn killing fish that consume those plants and so on, causing a chain reaction up the food chain.
3. Composting saves money. Trash costs money to be taken out, so less trash means more money saved. Composting is free! It could potentially even earn money as some farmers and landscapers may be willing to buy it, given that it produces such high-quality soil structure. So not only is it good for the planet, it is good for the pocketbook.

To learn more about the benefits of composting, you can read this fact sheet put together by the US Composting Council.