Composting - a viable alternative to burning garden waste

 

My compost heap January 2014

In January 2014, I wrote a blog post “Go Green with Composting” . I still have my compost heap, under a mango tree. Since I wrote that post it has digested more than 5,200 banana skins, and thousands of leaves in addition to the peelings of many breadfruits, yams, irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, mangoes and pineapples. My method of composting remains the same -  layering wet organic waste, which provides moisture and nitrogen, with dry leaves  which allow oxygen to permeate the pile. What I hadn’t mentioned in that post was the need to turn the pile every 2 months or so. Using a garden fork, I lift the layers and put them, with the most recent addition at the bottom and the lower layers at the top, in a second pile. This second pile is left undisturbed while the first one becomes the active pile again. Turning the pile speeds up the composting process by ensuring adequate aeration. After another 2 months, if the second pile hasn’t broken down completely, what is left can be put on a third pile.

My compost heap a few days ago

After turning, the pile is now on the right, leaving the space on the left for a new pile.

In about 6 months, the compost can be sifted to remove pieces of stick, ackee seeds, mango stones and such like, and mixed with soil in pots or garden beds for growing whatever you want. Where I live, the ground is rocky without much soil, and we have so many trees we can’t grow much else in the yard.

Another fact about composting I hadn’t known when I wrote the previous blog, was the importance of the carbon to nitrogen ratio. As stated by  the Cornell Waste Management  Institute, the ideal C/N ratio for composting is generally considered to be around 30:1, or 30 parts carbon for each part nitrogen by weight. Why 30:1? At lower ratios, nitrogen will be supplied in excess and will be lost as ammonia gas, causing undesirable odors. Higher ratios mean that there is not sufficient nitrogen for optimal growth of the microbial populations. 

So, a pile of dry leaves will take a long time to break down. However, if it’s mixed with some green stuff, like grass cuttings, and kept moist it will break down more quickly. If the compost pile is too dry, you can water it, (with water from laundry or washing up.)

Composting provides a viable alternative to burning garden waste, a practice which is detrimental to health because smoke contains many harmful chemicals, including benzene, which cause respiratory illnesses including cancers. If more households were to compost their kitchen waste such as banana skins and vegetable peelings, there would be less to be collected by garbage trucks, freeing them to pick up more of other types of garbage.

If you have a yard with even one tree, and you don’t have a compost heap, start one today. It's best to put it in a shady spot, for example under a tree. If you have a compost heap, try to persuade your friends and neighbours to start their own.  

My compost bucket lives in a cupboard under the sink.
I put the contents on the compost heap twice a week.

The Dangers of Open Burning - A Cry for Help to the Rotary Club of Montego Bay

After raising my concerns about the amount of open burning in my community, I was invited to speak at the October 18 Zoom meeting of the Montego Bay Rotary Club, whose president and members are focussing on community and environment. 

     This is what I shared with them: 

     Good afternoon Rotarians. Thank you so much for inviting me to speak at your meeting. I hope you can help us with our problem – smoke coming in our house, smoke from burning household and garden waste in people’s yards, in schools and on the roadside after bushing. I’m going to run through some photos of the smoke, which at times seems like all day and all night all the time. The problem as I see it is that people think there’s nothing wrong with open burning. It’s a common cultural practice. Children are taught to rake up the trash and burn it. Some people can’t even smell the smoke. Sometimes people stand over a fire, breathing in the smoke. 

     Is there anything wrong with it? Yes. At one time people thought that smoking tobacco was harmless. When I first started teaching in 1965, you could hardly see across the staff room for the smoke. Then studies showed that it caused bronchitis and lung cancer. Tobacco companies put a lot of money into denying these claims, but long-term scientific studies showed the link. Now tobacco smoking is banned in most public places. People who smoke, and people who breathe side stream smoke know the risks they are taking. 

      WHAT ARE THE POLLUTANTS AND WHERE ARE THEY PRODUCED?    Is it that most people aren’t aware of the dangers of inhaling smoke from open burning? Many studies have shown that smoke from garden waste has same and worse chemicals in it than tobacco, and smoke from the burning of garbage, especially plastic, has horrible chemicals in it. Depending on what is burned, smoke contains soot and other particulate matter, that falls to the ground and gets washed into rivers where our drinking water comes from, and into the sea where it enters the food chain. Smoke also contains carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) including poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carbonyls, lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/Fs). Many of these substances are known carcinogens. 

     WHAT ARE THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF OPEN BURNING? Increased infant mortality, low birth weight of babies, onset of childhood asthma, coughs, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, burning in eyes nose and throat, dizziness, weakness, confusion, nausea, disorientation, exposure to known carcinogens. While the seriousness of these depends on how close people are to fires, how long fires persist and the number of fires people are exposed to open burning increases risk of death among the general population, particularly the elderly, children, and those with preexisting respiratory and cardiac illnesses. When the dump is burning, these impacts are more noticeable, but people don’t apply these impacts to their own habits. 

     WHAT HAVE WE DONE ABOUT IT? My daughter has taken our concerns to Mr. Heroy Clarke, MP; Mr. Richard Vernon, Deputy Mayor of the Montego Bay Municipal Corporation; Ms. Sherika Lewis at the Ministry of Health; and Mr. McKenzie of the Fire Service, none of whom seems to be able to do anything about it. She has emailed them about every 3 months for 3 years and also spoken to them on the phone. 

     I’ve written emails to Ministry of Health, PAHO, President of the Medical Doctor’s Association, The Heart Foundation of Jamaica, and Dr. Michelle Charles but haven’t received any response. I probably need to follow up with a phone call as most likely the emails go into junk. 

     I wrote a blog post "The dangers of smoke and smoking." 

That was 9 years ago. Nothing has changed. If anything it’s got worse.

     WHAT WOULD WE LIKE TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. 

     A public education campaign alerting people to the dangers, in the same way as people are warned that tobacco smoking is bad for their health. People would be very quick to condemn someone who pollutes their water supply, but put up with having their air polluted; (or like us, don’t know what to do about it ). 

     People need to be educated about the alternatives. 

For garden waste: 

Composting, it’s not difficult. Kitchen waste can also be composted. Shredding of tough wood. We import shredded wood. Someone could have a viable business if they had a shredder they rented out or even go to people’s yards to shred. 

For other garbage: 

Recycling of plastic bottles. Put a cess on the bottles of at least $20, returnable when the bottle is returned. 

Improved garbage collection, (the present situation is a national disgrace) - put pressure on NSWMA to improve. Government must make more money available for garbage collection. (But if there was more composting and recycling, there’d be less garbage to collect.) 

Pass laws making open burning an offence. At present, prosecuting somebody for open burning will only happen when an individual reports someone to the relevant authority – who would want to do that in Jamaica today?

 

P.S. There was an interesting discussion afterwards which gave me some more ideas, including that we should visit schools to impart the anti-burning message.

Health and Open Burning

 

Should we be burning leaves and other garden waste?

If tobacco smoke is toxic, wouldn’t other kinds of smoke be toxic also?

Attitudes to smoking have changed over the last hundred years. In the 1990’s, doctors proved that tobacco smoke causes lung cancer, not only in the smoker but also in other people. So, countries all over the world, including Jamaica, have placed bans on smoking in public places.

In Jamaica, we like to tidy the yard by raking up leaves and other garden waste and burning them. Perhaps we should reconsider this practice. Smoke produced in this way is even more toxic than tobacco smoke. It is a mixture of particles and chemicals produced by incomplete burning of carbon-containing materials. All smoke contains carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, many different chemicals, and particulate matter (PM or soot). Inhaling carbon monoxide decreases the body's oxygen supply. This can cause headaches, reduce alertness, and aggravate a heart condition known as angina.

 Heat from a fire makes the smoke go up in the air, but when it hits cooler air, a lot of the chemicals condense and gradually fall to the ground. The smoke is spread out by wind and air currents in areas where people live, so it is hard for them to avoid breathing it in.                   

Source: Particulate Matter Basics US EPA

Very small particles are those which measure 2.5 microns or less. (10,000 microns = 1cm.) They are about a quarter the size of a red blood cell and would even look small under a microscope. They can seep through cracks in closed doors and windows. They can get deep into the lungs and possibly into the blood.  Inhaling fine particles can cause a variety of health effects, including respiratory irritation and shortness of breath, and can worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.

Other health impacts of open burning include increased infant mortality, low birth weight of babies, onset of childhood asthma, coughs, and wheezing. While the seriousness of these depends on how close people are to fires, how long fires persist and the number of fires people are exposed to, open burning increases risk of death among the general population, particularly the elderly, children, and those with preexisting respiratory and cardiac illnesses.

The alternatives to burning garden waste include:

1.      Composting – all garden waste will gradually decompose. It will decompose more quickly if it is broken into smaller pieces, kept moist and layered with kitchen waste such as fruit and vegetable peelings, in a compost pile or bin.

2  

 di      In districts where there is garbage collection, it can be bagged and put out to be collected.

N.B. We should never burn garbage. The smoke from it is more toxic than that from garden waste. It should be bagged and put out to be collected. Where there is no garbage collection, it should be buried far from water sources.

Zero Tolerance or Infinite Tolerance?

“A zero tolerance policy imposes automatic punishment for infractions of a stated rule, with the intention of eliminating undesirable conduct.” (Wikipedia). The “broken window theory” claims that if a window is broken and not repaired, more windows will be broken and eventually the building will be broken into. Extrapolating that argument, if minor infractions of rules go unpunished, the perpetrators or people in general will continue to expect to be able to  break other laws and not be punished. Arguments and examples can be put forward supporting and  opposing this theory.

Garbage on Sewell Avenue, Montego Bay

However, in Jamaica, the attitude of infinite tolerance seems to prevail. No action is taken against those who break so many of our laws. Take for example the Anti-Litter Act, passed with much fanfare and education programmes in the 1980’s. There are occasional crackdowns, in relation to posters advertising events, but in general there is total disregard for this law. Our drains and gullies are filled with plastic bottles, Styrofoam boxes and other trash to such an extent that they are blocked when heavy rains come and flooding results. Parish Councils are called on to keep these waterways clean, but you never hear of anyone being penalized for dropping the garbage there in the first place. On Sewell Avenue, in Montego Bay, there are two spots where people dump their garbage in an unsightly pile. Garbage trucks pass by regularly and sanitation workers take it up, but minutes later more is deposited. People, where is your civic pride? Couldn’t somebody at least provide a garbage drum at this location?

Open burning

Very few people seem to be aware that there is a law against open burning – a common practice. It’s hard to detect somebody littering - they drop their garbage and disappear, but it’s easy to see smoke and the evidence of a fire in an urban area. If Parish Councils collected fifty-thousand dollars for every instance of open burning, they would need no other source of income.

Slash and burn farming, Caledonia, Westmoreland

Harder to catch are slash and burn farmers in deep rural areas, and those who cut down trees with the intention of selling them. Police in Westmoreland have expressed their frustration at not being able to catch these thieves.

  Another law which is flouted with impunity is the night noises law. Operators of sound systems are supposed to get police permission before holding a session, but many fail to do so. Their noise continues well beyond the stipulated cut-off time and is replete with ‘forty-shilling-words’ which in a different setting would be grounds for an arrest.

  At one time, it was forbidden to import Pit Bull Terriers, and all imported dogs had to be quarantined for six months, to guard against rabies. Pit Bulls and other dogs were sneaked in, by-passing the quarantine. As far as I know, the law forbidding their importation is still on the books, but now Pit Bulls are one of the commonest breed of dog to be found in Jamaica.     

Even the government breaks its own laws by locking up children in adult prisons, and keeping adult prisoners incarcerated for many months without charging them.

  I hadn’t intended for my blog to be a platform from which to rant, as I prefer to be positive and look for solutions. I asked myself whether I would reproach anybody I saw dropping or burning garbage, and the answer was “No”, (except in the case of our neighbour’s gardener to whom we’ve spoken numerous times). However, I know there are many people who think as I do. I’ve heard them on talk-shows and seen their letters in newspapers. By continuing to talk and write, we must make it known that we are the majority, we disapprove of indiscipline and we shouldn’t let ourselves be bullied. We can also lend our support to organizations such as Jamaicans for Justice, and Jamaica Environment Trust, by thanking them and encouraging them to continue to speak out on our behalf.

Dangers of Smoke and Smoking

 I fully endorse the recently passed law banning smoking in public places in Jamaica, and the education campaign to support it. This is a health issue, not only for those who smoke, but also for those who breathe in second-hand smoke.

Equally unhealthy, and perhaps even more so, is the smoke produced by open burning of garbage and garden waste. Very few people, including the police, seem to know that this also is against the law and that there is a $50,000.00 fine for offenders. If they know it’s against the law, they also know that the chance of being convicted and fined is almost zero. In Jamaica, it is a common cultural practice instilled in children from an early age. They are exhorted to “Clean up the yard and burn the trash.” Those who indulge in this practice seem to be in blissful ignorance of the dangers of breathing in the smoke.

This practice of open burning isn’t limited to individuals, but is also carried on by organizations and companies. After bushing the area around the sewage ponds in Montego Bay, workers employed to the National Water Commission burn the trash. More serious, I observed open burning of garbage, which probably contains plastics, at the Sangster International Airport. Their incinerator looks like a derelict heap of rusted metal.

JET's Poster

The following information about the dangers of open burning were sent to me by Diana McCaulay of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) 11 Waterloo Road, Kingston 10, Jamaica; Phone: (876) 960-3693

WHAT ARE THE POLLUTANTS  AND WHERE  ARE THEY PRODUCED?

Depending on what is burned: soot and other particulate matter, carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) including poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carbonyls, lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/Fs). Many of these substances are known carcinogens.

WHY IS OPEN BURNING HARMFUL?

Open burning emissions are released at or near ground levels where people live and work, instead of through tall stacks which aid dispersion. Open fires can affect large areas and persist for a long time.

Technologies to clean up emissions cannot be used for open burning.

Burning after clearing a plot of land

SURELY THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ORGANIC MATERIAL LIKE CROPS AND

GARDEN CUTTINGS?

It does. Specifically, biomass fires typically emit 10 VOCs, 12 SVOCs, 15 Carbonyls, and 2 PCDDs/Fs.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF OPEN BURNING?

Increased infant mortality, low birth weight of babies, onset of childhood asthma, coughs, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, burning in eyes nose and throat, dizziness, weakness, confusion, nausea, disorientation, exposure to known carcinogens. While the seriousness of these depends on how close people are to fires, how long fires persist and the number of fires people are exposed to open burning increases risk of death among the general population, particularly the elderly, children, and those with preexisting respiratory and cardiac illnesses.

I am sure that some of the increase in the incidence of asthma, sinusitis and lung cancer can be attributed to open burning as well as to the smoking of tobacco.

We should all stop open burning – the unenclosed combustion of materials, and the burning of waste of all types.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO INSTEAD?

·         Reduce waste,

·         recycle

o        especially plastic bottles. Let’s put a cess on all plastic bottles. If you can afford to buy something in a plastic bottle, you can afford Ja$5.00 at time of purchase and get it back later. If you don’t want to return the plastic bottle, someone else will.

o   composting kitchen and garden waste. This doesn’t have to be high tech. Some fancy bins are sold for composting, but even in a small yard, you can fence off, or mark off an area, or dig a hole where you deposit kitchen waste, and cover it with dead leaves or grass clippings. Add layers of kitchen waste and garden trash. You may need to water (with used water!) it in the dry season. Nature will do the rest. You can turn the pile after about 3 months and start a new one. The speed of breakdown of compost in Jamaica never ceases to amaze me. You can mix the resulting compost with soil for growing plants.

This banana had its roots in a compost heap

·         as a last resort bury non hazardous waste far away from water sources.