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If it produces Carbon dioxide is it not doing the same thing as just burning it?

mchannon 3y ago
Yes and no. When you exercise, are you burning calories? Yes. Are you literally burning calories, as through combustion the way most people understand it? No. I guess a way to look at this would be akin to community trash fires that are sub-combustion temperature. Yay, now we don't have to truck it 100km to the incinerator, we can just burn it in the village square. Composting is really challenging because a number of waste products, from citrus to inorganic or hybrid-inorganic garbage, can ruin the compost process and compost product. If someone leaves a metal nail in the compost pile and someone else later plants potatoes in it, that nail could end up in your mouth after a potato grows around it.
- eric-hu 3y ago
  Why is citrus to be avoided in composting? A quick Google says that’s a myth, but this is the first I’ve heard of it either way. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/citrus-peels-compost.htm https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/citr...
  - 13th_yc_acct 3y ago
    You shouldn't put citrus in a vermicompost bin because the worms can't eat it (right away, at any rate). I haven't heard that you can't compost citrus in a regular compost pile however. May be people getting mixed up around different types of composting.
    - Tade0 3y ago
      I assume that it's just like with meat, which lowers the pH of the compost, which in turn is problematic if the plants using it later on have specific requirements in this regard.
- balaji1 3y ago
  > potato grows around it That's insane. And by the same process, does plastic/microplastic in compost/soil, end up in fruits/veggies?
  - mooooooooooooo 3y ago
    My semi-educated guess is that micro plastics wind up within the plant via nutrient uptake. No idea how a nail ends up in a potato.
WastingMyTime89 3y ago
Yes but as it does not come from fossil fuel, its impact on the total amount of carbon dioxide currently in the surface is neutral. It’s not a panacea but it’s better than using extracted gas and is a way to bridge the gap between the current situation and one where we have enough clean energy.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  To whoever downvoted the parent comment (yes, I see that the comment doesn't address the article): When it comes to organic waste it's basically always going to convert to carbon gases, unless you're burying it in a peat bog or something of that nature. At least here the conversion is in a controlled manner that theoretically allows capture, as well as being conversion into carbon dioxide instead of carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and various other gases that have sundry externalities, including greenhouse effects. Additionally, those microbes can often be used directly as chemical factories (or at least a bunch of scientists are working on this, with some production plants already in use). So the waste isn't being converted to carbon dioxide, it's being converted to inputs directly used for manufacturing. While this particular product isn't doing this, it might be adaptable for the purposes at some point.

Yes and no. When you exercise, are you burning calories? Yes. Are you literally burning calories, as through combustion the way most people understand it? No. I guess a way to look at this would be akin to community trash fires that are sub-combustion temperature. Yay, now we don't have to truck it 100km to the incinerator, we can just burn it in the village square. Composting is really challenging because a number of waste products, from citrus to inorganic or hybrid-inorganic garbage, can ruin the compost process and compost product. If someone leaves a metal nail in the compost pile and someone else later plants potatoes in it, that nail could end up in your mouth after a potato grows around it.

eric-hu 3y ago
Why is citrus to be avoided in composting? A quick Google says that’s a myth, but this is the first I’ve heard of it either way. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/citrus-peels-compost.htm https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/citr...
- 13th_yc_acct 3y ago
  You shouldn't put citrus in a vermicompost bin because the worms can't eat it (right away, at any rate). I haven't heard that you can't compost citrus in a regular compost pile however. May be people getting mixed up around different types of composting.
  - Tade0 3y ago
    I assume that it's just like with meat, which lowers the pH of the compost, which in turn is problematic if the plants using it later on have specific requirements in this regard.
balaji1 3y ago
> potato grows around it That's insane. And by the same process, does plastic/microplastic in compost/soil, end up in fruits/veggies?
- mooooooooooooo 3y ago
  My semi-educated guess is that micro plastics wind up within the plant via nutrient uptake. No idea how a nail ends up in a potato.

WastingMyTime89 3y ago

Yes but as it does not come from fossil fuel, its impact on the total amount of carbon dioxide currently in the surface is neutral. It’s not a panacea but it’s better than using extracted gas and is a way to bridge the gap between the current situation and one where we have enough clean energy.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago
To whoever downvoted the parent comment (yes, I see that the comment doesn't address the article): When it comes to organic waste it's basically always going to convert to carbon gases, unless you're burying it in a peat bog or something of that nature. At least here the conversion is in a controlled manner that theoretically allows capture, as well as being conversion into carbon dioxide instead of carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and various other gases that have sundry externalities, including greenhouse effects. Additionally, those microbes can often be used directly as chemical factories (or at least a bunch of scientists are working on this, with some production plants already in use). So the waste isn't being converted to carbon dioxide, it's being converted to inputs directly used for manufacturing. While this particular product isn't doing this, it might be adaptable for the purposes at some point.