Taylor, John, Lauren, Vivian
statistics:
- Composting can reduce household waste by 30%
- Composting can reduce soil fertilization costs by 50%
- A small American city of 100k people creates enough waste in one year to equal three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty, roughly the equivalent of $165 billion of wasted food every year in the US.
- Over 60% of what we put in our what we put in our landfills is organic waste
- Composting prevented the release of 183 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air– that’s equivalent to 34 million cars taken off the road for one year
- Over ⅓ of landfill waste is compostable
benefitting water:
- Compost helps soak up water, slowly releasing it to plants. With enough compost in your soil, you won’t have to water as much. Also, compost applied thickly as a top dressing has some of the benefits of mulching. It will keep water from evaporating from deeper levels.
- Composting increases the volume of water by 3 quarts per cubic foot of soil resulting in less frequent watering (this could potentially help agricultural areas experiencing drought ie California)
- Compost helps to improve water retention in soil
benefiting fertilization:
- Composting is a natural alternative to chemical fertilizer
- Composting can reduce soil fertilization costs by 50%
- Cons of Fertilization and why we should use composting as an alternative
- Require multiple applications in one season
- Temporary solution, doesn’t add nutrients to soil
- Pollutes stormwater (more water treatment = increase in water cost)
benefitting the environment (CO2 Emissions):
- Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint
- Food scraps in landfills generate methane, a greenhouse gas with global warming potential 84x more potent than CO2 in the short term
- ½ inch of compost applied to rangeland sequestered the equivalent of 1 metric ton of Co2e/hectare over three years
- Composting prevented the release of 183 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air- that’s equivalent to 34 million cars taken off the road for one year
benefitting human health:
- Composting can have an effect on physical health as well — we can ingest molecules of harmful substances such as fertilizer and landfill leachate
- Composting can make us more aware of what we eat and how that food is produces
- source: Davies, S. (2011). Composting Inside and Out : The Comprehensive Guide to Reusing Trash, Saving Money and Enjoying the Benefits of Organic Gardening. Cincinnati, Ohio: Krause Publications.
benefiting agriculture:
- Composting promotes higher crop yields
- Compost can be used to remediate soils contaminated by hazardous waste in a cost effective manner
- On a per-ton basis, making compost alone employs 2x more workers than landfills and 4x more than incinerators
- One study demonstrated in over five years, a natural (compost) turf program resulted in 25% savings when compared to a chemical one (SOURCE: GrassRootsInfo.org)
I like the statistics. For an infographic, I would choose 1 or 2 statistics that you think are both shocking and applicable to UGA students. For example, maybe the “30% less household waste” statistic is best.
Water benefits are good. This can be simplified to 1 main idea. One that is also applicable to UGA students (who maybe have/want a garden of their own). So the main idea/benefit could be that you would not have to water your garden as frequently (since college students can be forgetful and are busy taking classes/studying during the week)!
I like the idea that a student might not have to spend money on fertilizer. This is good! Also, I realize this is for Rooker Hall students who may not have their own garden, but these benefits could entice them to start composting if/when they have a yard of their own some day.
Benefits to the environment and human health are both extremely relevant ideas to include in the flyer/ infographic. Choose a couple benefits from each category that are MOST compelling. Ask yourself, what benefits would make me want to start composting?
Benefits to agriculture are good, but probably only super interesting for Ag majors to read. I would choose one benefit from this category or maybe combine this category with “benefits to the environment.”
OVERALL, great work! You have lots of benefits to choose from, and this will be very helpful when putting together a flyer!
– Sarah Kate
There is a lot of great statistics and information on here, which is perfect for a great flyer/infographic. However, I think that the most important thing you guys need to focus on is condensing all of this information and deciding which ones to put on the flyer; because there’s no way you’re gonna fit all of that on one page. You don’t want to overload your reader with too much information or it might intimidate them and scare them away from composting. So pick which points you think will most effectively get your points across on the flyer and focus on those. Overall though you guys did a great job!