High Cost of Yard Waste

Posted by Robert Dailey Aug 24, 2006

How much yard waste do you generate? If you're like the typical homeowner, you're either bagging your grass clippings and leaves and placing them at curbside for pickup. Some homeowners have mulching mowers which chop up the grass cuttings and drop them back into the soil.

Interestingly, yard waste makes up 20 to 30 percent of the solid waste collected by most municipalities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Food waste makes up another eight to nine percent.

The cost of collecting, hauling and processing yard waste is a large part of the budget of most municipalities' waste management operations. The average is 20 percent of the waste management budget, but it does soar to as high as 50 percent.

Yard and food waste are two of the major producers of methane and acid-liquid runoff in land fills. The incineration of yard waste is one of the major sources of air pollution.

Of course, it's better to collect and process these wastes than to leave them sitting around. But processing these wastes at the source significantly reduces the major costs of collecting, hauling and disposing of them. Processing them at the source also has a positive effect on the environment.

Many gardeners and environmentalists are using backyard composting as an alternative. It is also one of the easiest ways to process waste.

In addition, correctly prepared compost can increase yield, is environmentally safe, and returns nutrients back into the soil.