What are composting, compost, and vermicomposting?
Compostingthe process of managing organic residuals, and the productcompost have been understood by mankind for at least two millennia, and likely longer, with recorded instances of their benefit to soil fertility extending back to the Roman statesman Cato. Compost is a beneficial substance aiding soil and is produced by the activity of microorganisms upon organic matter. Since organic matter (food waste, paper waste, agriculture and landscape waste, animal manures, and wastewater residuals) in many societies is abundant and often problematical, composting discarded organic waste matter is a process useful to waste managers who are concerned with, 1. reducing volume of waste and, 2. stabilizing waste that is volatile, inasmuch as it becomes a nuisance for its odor and attraction to vectors. Thus, composting is attractive to waste managers as a process technology, while the resulting product, compost, is attractive for its horticultural and agricultural benefits. Vermicomposting (Latin
