Composting with Texas-Style Gusto

by Rick Walker on December 23, 2008

In Texas, the market for renewable energy sources has been injected with a Texas-style fervor propelling it forward at an astonishing speed. The state-wide focus on sustainable energy has established new and greener relationships between the environment, the business community, industrial and residential practices.

Composting is one such new program.  As a sustainable energy source, compost poses a valuable contribution to landscaping road sides, providing a spreadable base for grass seed or sod and to build up side banks preventing erosion and wash-out from heavy rain storms.

One of the greener solutions for environmental management is to use compost, landscaping waste and mulched leaves as a base for new growth in parks and open areas.  Formerly, these items would have been designated as landfill despite the fact that they represent an environmentally-friendly alternative to re-filling gaps in vegetation left by the construction of highways.   While it may seem as though environmentally-friendly mulch does not pose a threat in a land fill site, it is a waste of a viable biodegradable product.  Mixing it in with other toxic materials renders it useless and wastes its potential as a renewable and efficient source of energy.

Examples of usable compost include:
•    yard waste, landscaping trimmings, last year’s Christmas trees, sawdust
•    biologically-friendly solids from wastewater-treatment plants
•    cafeteria and restaurant food waste, newspapers, cardboard, cotton gin trash
•    slaughter waste, manure, animal carcasses
•    unusable hay, past ripen vegetables and fruit or other agricultural produce
•    out-dated beer, wine and liquor and spoiled milk products

Sustainability has a tri-level bottom line in the Texas business community; it has to make better sense economically, environmentally and increase greener practises in agriculture, forestry, urban and rural areas.

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{ 1 comment }

Arianacike May 13, 2009 at 2:41 pm

That was nice. Thank you for sharing this one.

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