The economic benefits of composting have made us, once again, geeky-stoked about permaculture. Every time I tell my mom about another plan or project we’re adding to our micro homestead, she sighs and tell me the work is exhausting just to talk about. What she doesn’t understand, however, is how all the permaculture projects feed into one another and actually make each chore easier. We recently started focusing on utilizing our biodegradable waste, and since then, the economic benefits of composting have been huge.
This article goes into a lot of detail about the economic benefits of composting on a broad scale. It discusses everything from location challenges to vermicompost (I’ll let you look that one up if you aren’t familiar.) However, I’m here to talk about the four major economic benefits of composting that we’ve experienced since starting the breakdown process. This is pretty specific to our own micro homestead, but I hope it helps give you an idea of what biodegradable benefits are available, even on a small scale.
How Composting at Home Saves Money
This isn’t a fully exhaustive list by any means, but here are a few ways maintaining our compost pile keeps more cash in our pockets.
- More room in the garbage can
- Glorious garden food
- Nutritious chicken feed
- Chicken entertainment
- Cleaner chicken coop
- Higher garden volume
Let’s break it all down in a little more detail…
1. More Room in the Garbage Can
It’s crazy how much biodegradable waste we throw into landfills. This may not seem major for most, but having more room in the garbage can is a game changer for our family. Since we spent the majority of last year remodeling our house, we’re in a never-ending process of trying to get rid of our project waste. While we’ve rented trailers & made trips to the dump a few times already, it’s incredibly time consuming and expensive. We load up our garbage can each week with everything we can fit, and we’re slowly getting rid of it all. Bit by bit. By eliminating food waste, we save a ton of space in the garbage can for everything else we’d otherwise have to have hauled away. That’s a major money-saving win.
2. Glorious Garden Food
This may be the most obvious “pro” when it comes to the economic benefits of composting. Garden compost is expensive. I mean, really expensive, if you’re buying any more than a few bags. Not only that, but I personally have a huge distain for the whole process of loading up a cart with wet, heavy, stinky bags, loading them in my car, and unloading them again at home. It makes my back hurt just thinking about it.
By composting at home, you’re re-using the waste that was already there to create your own free compost, right in your own backyard! Not only is this one of the best economic benefits of composting, but it’s great for the environment, too. Think of all the greenhouse gases that were released by processing commercial compost on a large scale and transporting it who-knows-how-far to the store. Think of all the greenhouse gases that are released to haul away a years’ worth of biodegradable food waste for one family, too. By doing it all in your own backyard, you eliminate all that waste — and don’t put yourself through the miserable process of hauling those bags. Plus, we eliminated the plastic needed to package the commercial compost, too. Oh wait, and as far as economics go, it’s all free. Score!
3. Nutritious Chicken Feed
Corn has done incredible things for the commercial farming industry. But alas, most animals did not evolve to thrive on corn alone. Plus, quality animal feed really adds up. It’s hard to justify the cost of owning chickens from an economic standpoint if they are fed solely on chicken feed. However, this is where our economic benefits of composting come in. The composting process creates a plethora of microorganisms, bugs, worms, and other delicious treats that chickens love. When they spend more time foraging and feeding in the compost pile, they spend less time stuffing their tubby little faces at the chicken feeder. Plus, the wider variety of bugs a chicken eats, the darker the yolks of their eggs. And as we all know, a dark orange free-range egg yolk tastes about a million times better than the factory farm eggs. Thanks, compost pile!
4. Chicken Entertainment
I know, I know. How can chicken entertainment be counted as one of the economic benefits of composting? Let me draw a quick little circle here. Chicken ailments like bumble foot, feather picking, and infections can largely be attributed to confined spaces. By free ranging our chickens, we majorly cut down on the amount of medical care they need. However, free ranging chickens are fantastic at getting into trouble — especially if there is a garden around. Our compost pile has provided an awesome “home base” for the girls. They’ve learned that the compost pile is the easiest place to find creepy-crawlies, and they hardly bother venturing anywhere near our gardens anymore. This means fewer plants replaced, which means more money in our pockets.
5. Cleaner Chicken Coop
Our first year with chickens, we utilized the “deep litter” method of bedding in their chicken coop. It’s essentially its own mini-composting system, where the coop is only cleaned once a year. It worked alright, but we did have quite a few flies around the chickens, and we had to purchase wood shavings about 6 times/year. This year, instead of purchasing shavings, we are using the wood shavings from Ian’s woodworking projects as fine bedding in the coop. It breaks down faster than the purchased pine, and we simply scoop a few bucketfuls each week and add it to the compost pile for more carbon. (Carbon keeps our compost pile from smelling stinky.) A cleaner chicken coop saves money with healthier chickens (fewer treatments), and little-to-no money spent on bedding. Though not the most massive of economic benefits of composting, this alone cuts down on about $100 or more/year.
6. Higher Garden Volume
I have a thing for raised garden beds. While compost roto-tilled directly in the ground can perform just as well, I’m a sucker for the organization & aesthetic of a clean vegetable garden bed. (You can find our layout for this year’s by clicking here.) As such, I spend a stupid amount of time lugging soil and compost from the store to fill said raised garden beds. I find this to be the most expensive part of this gardening design. However, by providing our own compost, we will do more than increase our garden food. We will also increase the amount of garden bed volume we are able to utilize, which means even more fresh fruits & veggies all season long.
The Economic Benefits of Composting are Hard to Beat
Considering that I didn’t even factor in the health benefits of turning compost (it can be quite a workout!), many others will cite further economic benefits of composting that I didn’t even touch. These are just a few of the biggest ways we see our compost pile not only saving us money, but making our lives easier as well. Of course, the environmental benefits of composting at home are just another reason to give it a try.
Have you tried composting before? What are your favorite tips & tricks?
Disclaimer: We’re not professionals or experts on this topic, so all we can do is share our own personal experience in hopes that it helps you in your journey! We always recommend consulting with the pros directly.