Why compost and residual waste are not together? (lemmy.today)

submitted 8 months ago by Capricorn@lemmy.today to c/environment@beehaw.org

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In Italy (and in most countries I've visited), waste sorting typically involves two distinct categories for compost and residual waste.

Question: Why is compost disposed of in a separate collection rather than with residual waste? Are there any environmental differences if it decomposes together with dry waste versus separately? Is it a matter of disposal efficiency, or is it simply another administrative complexity?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Capricorn@lemmy.today 1 points 8 months ago

Rules for the "compost waste" doesn't apply for making the compost that you use as a fertilizer. Maybe that's why we call it "wet". It's basically anything that is biodegradable. But not everything that is biodegradable is ok for fertilizing...

[-] morhp@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 8 months ago

"compost waste" will usually be used as fertilizer. It depends on the region, but they'll often extract bio gas first and the residue will be further processed by machines and bacteria into compost or fertilizer.

Other garbage will usually be burned and then buried. Maybe partially recycled. But completely different processes.

this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024

9 points (100.0% liked)

Environment

3923 readers

2 users here now

Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).

See also our Nature and Gardening community for discussion centered around things like hiking, animals in their natural habitat, and gardening (urban or rural).

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS