Benefits of Composting Composting and How It Changes Your Life & Plane

🌿What is Composting and Why is it Important?

Before we can understand the benefits of composting, we must first learn about household waste and why we should compost.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2024 Food Waste Index Report, in 2022, approximately 1.05 billion tons of food waste were generated globally. A staggering 60% of this waste came from households—from cooking and personal consumption. The rest came from restaurants and retailers. The UNEP report also reveals that people worldwide waste nearly one-fifth of all food produced daily. This is primarily due to over-purchasing and throwing away leftover food.

This huge amount of wasted food not only causes economic loss but is also responsible for 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Composting is the scientific process of decomposing everyday waste to create organic fertilizer. Every day, we throw away food scraps, vegetable peels, dried leaves, and other waste into our bins. Instead of discarding these organic materials, we can scientifically convert them into high-quality organic fertilizer for plants.

In this article, we will learn step-by-step how composting can turn our everyday waste into valuable fertilizer and, in the process, transform our lives.

To learn more about your environmental impact, read our guide on What is Your Carbon Footprint & Why Does it Matter?

Top 10 Benefits of Composting: Environmental, Economic & Social

Composting at home offers numerous benefits. If you love gardening or have a small garden, balcony, or a few indoor plants, they need fertilizer. We all know that chemical fertilizers aren't ideal. By creating fertilizer from things we would otherwise throw away, we can save money and benefit both our plants and the environment.

Here are the many benefits of composting creating natural organic fertilizer through.

Environmental Benefits 🌏

The world generates tons of waste every day, and a large portion of it is organic. Composting this organic waste is incredibly beneficial for nature and the environment. However, when this waste accumulates in dumping grounds, it causes air and water pollution. When waste is left to rot or gets burned, it gives off methane gas. This gas alone causes about 8–10% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, making it a big driver of global warming.

It might surprise you, but if a single person like you or me separates kitchen waste and starts composting, they can prevent 300–400 kg of waste from going to a dump each year. Now imagine the massive change if thousands of people start doing this.

Soil Benefits 🌱

Compost fertilizer makes your soil healthier—it improves texture, holds water better, and supports the growth of helpful microbes. It helps reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and naturally fights diseases.

• Increases Nutrients: Compost increases the amount of organic matter in the soil, providing essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (USDA Soil Health Guide).
• Improves Soil Structure: Compost makes sandy soil more water-retentive and clay soil looser, allowing air to circulate easily for plant roots. This improves the physical structure of the soil.
• Increases Water Retention: Compost acts like a sponge, helping soil retain water for longer periods (FAO on soil health).
• Promotes Beneficial Microbes: It helps increase the number of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and earthworms (ScienceDirect research on soil microbes).
• Disease Suppression: Some types of compost, such as Trichoderma-enriched compost, can suppress disease-causing organisms in the soil, which boosts the plants' immunity (NCBI study on Trichoderma).

Economic Benefits 💰

Using compost fertilizer offers multifaceted economic benefits for both farmers and everyday users. It not only reduces crop production costs but also improves the quality and yield of crops.

Using compost can reduce the need for chemical fertilizers by 40 to 60%. This significantly lowers production costs, making it financially beneficial. Compost also improves the soil’s water retention, which reduces irrigation costs. When you use Trichoderma-enriched compost, it naturally suppresses harmful soil pathogens, saving you money on pesticides.

Other Benefits: Compost-enriched soil increases fertility, which helps boost crop yields. The crops produced with this fertilizer are healthier and free from toxins, which often command a higher market price.

Developed countries worldwide are reducing the production of chemical fertilizers and increasing the production of compost (European Commission Circular Economy Plan). This not only lowers carbon emissions but also makes our soil and health toxin-free.

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Mental and Social Benefits ❤️

In today's fast-paced world, we are all busy with work and other commitments, which often keeps us from connecting with nature. Imagine you have a few plants at home or in your garden. You used to throw away your daily waste, but now you put it in a compost bin. After a few weeks, you use the resulting compost to nourish your plants and watch them grow beautifully. Doing this brings relaxation and a sense of inner balance (Journal of Environmental Psychology study).

By doing this, you can inspire others in your community to do the same. Eventually, we will reduce our dependence on chemical fertilizers and increase the use of environmentally friendly, green ones.

Read more NASA Certified 9 Best Indoor Plants For Sustainable Bedroom Decor

How Composting Will Change Your Life 🌟

Your Home Will Be Lighter and Cleaner 🏡

The unpleasant smell from your kitchen garbage bin will gradually disappear. By separating organic waste and putting it in a compost bin, your regular trash will remain dry and odorless. According to the UNEP Food Waste Report, nearly 60% of the world's total food waste comes from households. This massive amount of waste can be reduced through composting instead of being sent directly to landfills, which eases the overall pressure on waste management.

Studies show that separating food waste can reduce the total amount of household waste by 40-50%, making your home more comfortable and healthier.

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Eco-Friendly Living Becomes a Natural Habit 🌍

Previously, the idea of "protecting the environment" might have sounded like something from a textbook. After you get started, composting easily becomes part of your daily life. Composting reduces the emission of methane gas from organic waste. Methane is 25 times more potent than CO₂ when it comes to warming the planet.

Using compost improves soil quality, plants grow better, and harvests increase. By composting, you can return this waste to the soil, which is a crucial step against climate change.

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Your Garden Will Be Greener and Healthier 🌱

The joy and satisfaction you get from seeing your plants sprout new leaves, flowers, and fruits using compost you made yourself are indescribable. Compost nourishes the soil, supports plant growth, and boosts crop production. Using vermicompost (worm compost) increases the number of beneficial microorganisms in the soil (ResearchGate on vermicompost benefits).

Save Money and Become Self-Reliant 💰

By using compost, you won't need to buy separate chemical fertilizers. The economic benefits have been proven in various studies. One study in the U.S. found that if household composting were widely adopted, it could reduce 30 million tons of carbon and save $16 billion annually. Another study in Shiraz, Iran, showed that household composting reduced waste management costs by up to 5% and cut down CO₂-Eq emissions by about 19,076 tons per year.

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Mental Peace and Pride ✨

Composting connects you with nature, which is psychologically beneficial. It encourages a disciplined lifestyle and builds a sense of self-confidence and pride from your small successes.

Public Health and Environmental Protection

On a broader social scale, composting plays a vital role in public health and environmental protection. It reduces the amount of waste, lowers methane emissions, and decreases the need for energy from waste incineration. By improving soil fertility, compost makes it easier to produce healthy food (WHO on healthy environments).

Bokashi Composting: Easy, Odorless, and Effective

No room for a big compost bin? Don’t worry—Bokashi composting is a perfect solution, and it doesn’t create bad smells. This method, developed in Japan, uses special bacteria to ferment waste quickly. The Bokashi method can be used indoors, is completely odorless, and can make organic waste ready for plants in just two weeks. It is also highly effective for carbon sequestration (ScienceDirect on Bokashi composting).

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Top 10 Countries with Inspirational Waste Management and Composting Journeys 🌍

reducing waste, increasing composting, and building sustainable societies?

We can learn a lot from their policies, technologies, and practical

steps. A 2024 UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report

states that a "zero-waste" society is possible with the right policies and

effective waste management. Let’s explore how these countries have turned

their waste into a resource.

policy. Citizens pay more for disposing of more waste. But the most

interesting part is their RFID-based smart bins. Their RFID-based smart

bins automatically weigh waste and calculate the fee. Using

biodegradable bags is also mandatory. This method is so effective that

according to a

study on South Korea’s PAYT system, over 90% of food waste in Korea is successfully recovered.

The secret to their success is the "Four-in-One" recycling system.Taiwan is now a world leader in recycling., where ordinary citizens, local government, the private sector, and volunteers work together. Their PAYT policy and mandatory waste separation have led to a dramatic drop in per capita waste. Long-term research indicates that over 50% of Taiwan's waste is recycled and the amount of per capita waste has dropped dramatically.

Milan proves that effective waste management is possible even in large densely populated cities. They have implemented a door-to-door service to collect separated food waste throughout the city. The success is due to clear policies, continuous public awareness campaigns, and investment in the right infrastructure. As a result, Milan is now able to produce a large amount of compost and biogas.(ScienceDirect on Milan’s food waste management).

 The success of Germany’s system is based on its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. The core idea is that the companies that bring products to market are responsible for the cost of recycling their packaging. The "Green Dot" system allows private operators to collect and sort waste from homes. This model has made Germany one of the top recycling countries in Europe.

Similar to Sweden, Denmark’s deposit scheme is also highly successful. They have expanded the scheme to include containers for juice and other liquids in addition to bottles and cans. Because return points are easy to find all over the country, Denmark has a very high return rate. Denmark’s return rate is among the world’s highest.

 Since 2000, Switzerland has banned the disposal of combustible waste in landfills. This has led to waste being used to generate energy, and organic waste is either composted or converted into other resources. This strict policy has brought the country's waste generation to nearly zero. banned the disposal of combustible waste in landfills.

Austria: 30 Years of Continuous Composting Success 🇦🇹