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What’s the difference between composting in the yard and composting in a landfill?

bwestergard 4y ago
Composting in the yard, if done correctly, is aerobic. In a landfill it will be anaerobic, generating more methane.
carapace 4y ago
In a word, oxygen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_organism - - - - "Compost" and "composting" is a fairly specific kind of process, it's just not correct to call what happens in a landfill "composting" (or contrast with a midden which is just a pile of kitchen refuse, and also not "composting".) The key difference in composting (as contrasted with just piling up waste material) is the specific formation of a kind of ecosystem within the pile. A healthy compost pile produces it's own heat. It's a concentrated and accelerated form of the natural processes that happen in healthy soil, and in many ways it really is a kind of organism. (The dividing line between organism and ecosystem is not sharp. E.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_mat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_mat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichoplax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichoplax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war#Colonial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war#Coloni... and so on... ) Anyway, in a landfill you get your pockets of mostly organic biomass, and decomposition happens, but it tends to be anaerobic (which generally is less healthy from the POV of human metabolism) and the results don't get integrated back into ecosystems rapidly (isolation is not complete, so they ooze back into the water table but they are almost always accompanied by toxic chemical wastes, so it doesn't really help.)
oh_sigh 4y ago
If you do it wrong - nothing. As others have responded though, oxygen is the difference, and that is why you need to "turn" your compost every couple of days. If you don't, it will start to get very stinky - if you're doing aerobic composting shouldn't really have a smell, maybe something slightly earthy but that is it.
- janj 4y ago
  I’ve been composing for years without turning and without the stinky issue. My compost is connected to the chicken coop, they always have full access to the compost, maybe that has something to do with it. All year I add everything, yard and kitchen waste, without turning. I stop adding beginning of spring, towards end of spring I dig it out for the garden. Easiest method of composting I’ve come up with, no fuss, great soil. Just wanted to put out there there’s an easier way to compost.

Composting in the yard, if done correctly, is aerobic. In a landfill it will be anaerobic, generating more methane.

In a word, oxygen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_organism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_organism - - - - "Compost" and "composting" is a fairly specific kind of process, it's just not correct to call what happens in a landfill "composting" (or contrast with a midden which is just a pile of kitchen refuse, and also not "composting".) The key difference in composting (as contrasted with just piling up waste material) is the specific formation of a kind of ecosystem within the pile. A healthy compost pile produces it's own heat. It's a concentrated and accelerated form of the natural processes that happen in healthy soil, and in many ways it really is a kind of organism. (The dividing line between organism and ecosystem is not sharp. E.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_mat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_mat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichoplax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichoplax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war#Colonial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war#Coloni... and so on... ) Anyway, in a landfill you get your pockets of mostly organic biomass, and decomposition happens, but it tends to be anaerobic (which generally is less healthy from the POV of human metabolism) and the results don't get integrated back into ecosystems rapidly (isolation is not complete, so they ooze back into the water table but they are almost always accompanied by toxic chemical wastes, so it doesn't really help.)

oh_sigh 4y ago

If you do it wrong - nothing. As others have responded though, oxygen is the difference, and that is why you need to "turn" your compost every couple of days. If you don't, it will start to get very stinky - if you're doing aerobic composting shouldn't really have a smell, maybe something slightly earthy but that is it.

janj 4y ago
I’ve been composing for years without turning and without the stinky issue. My compost is connected to the chicken coop, they always have full access to the compost, maybe that has something to do with it. All year I add everything, yard and kitchen waste, without turning. I stop adding beginning of spring, towards end of spring I dig it out for the garden. Easiest method of composting I’ve come up with, no fuss, great soil. Just wanted to put out there there’s an easier way to compost.