How does composting differ from recycling?
Recycling and composting are not related in any way.
Recycling involves taking a product and then separating and sorting its pieces into "single material streams" for processing back into raw materials so thy may reenter the manufacturing cycle. An example: a pair of glasses would need to have it’s glass lenses, plastic frames and metal screws taken apart and then sorted into piles with the same type of materials and then reprocessed (cleaned, melted down, etc.) In theory almost anything can be recycled but for difficult products (like potato chip bags where metal/plastic/paper have been fused) the cost of recycling does not always make it worthwhile financially for a company to pursue. As raw materials become more expensive, this cost-benefit analysis changes.
Composting involves creating piles of organic material (produce scraps and yard waste mostly) and allowing it to break down over a period of weeks or months (time period depends on how active or passive you are with your pile and whether or not you use worms) and then using it as a topsoil dressing to help soil retain moisture or mixing it into soil as a fertilizer.
