The hot buzz words of this New Year are carbon footprint. It is used to mean what type of carbon waste you will leave behind when you are gone. Your amount of waste or the garbage/trash that you are responsible for in your local landfill is a typical carbon footprint.

You are probably already doing some type recycling with your aluminum cans, plastics and paper. Recycling is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. By recycling you limit the amount of waste that gets put in your landfill. Now imagine for a moment you can recycle even more than you already do. You are probably saying to yourself, how can I recycle more than what I am. The answer is composting.

Food waste, leaves, grass clippings and other biodegradable items can fill up a landfill as well. However, did you know, that you can actually use these items yourself to add nutrients to your soil, reduce landfill needs and invariably limit your carbon footprint even further? The truth is, you can, and here is how you do it.

You see, when the items listed above start to biodegrade they emit methane. This methane the gets released into the atmosphere which contributes to global warming. However, there is a way to eliminate the release of this methane into the air and use it to add nutrients to your soil. Composting does this. You take these items and add them to your soil and then they in turn are turned into nutrients. Let me explain.

The best way to compost this material is to bury it. First, dig a hole about two to three foot deep. Then place the items in this hole. Obviously the more material you have the larger the hole (however not deeper). Once you have placed the items in the hole you then cover it with the dirt.

As you can tell with the material being covered the methane is not released into the air which limits the contribution to global warming. More importantly by burying the material you are supply food to earthly creatures such as worms, bacteria and fungi. These creatures eat the waste and in turn produce castings that add nutrients to your soil. By reintroducing nutrients to your soil you are creating a more ideal environment if you plan on growing flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs or any other type of plant life.

A typical compost pile takes about three months to be fully ingested by earthly creatures so make sure you mark and date your spot as to where you buried the material so you do not dig it back up beforehand and disturb the area. I grow a vegetable garden every year in my backyard and I follow this process all year long. My garden is healthy and the vegetables it produces is better (at least I and my neighbors think so) than what you will find from a store.

Give composting a try. I guarantee once you start and see the great results you will wonder why you weren’t doing it sooner. About the Author:
Mr. Tucker is a regular contributor on Bukisa, an online community for writers that pays them for their articles. You can also follow Bruce on Twitter.