Composting Defined
Composting is a(n) __(1)__ process that converts __(2)__ materials into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.
What is aerobic (1) and organic materials (2)?
Food that was not used for its intended purpose
What is wasted food?
According to the EPA, this is the MOST PREFERRED option to solve issues related to food waste.
What is prevent the generation of wasted food?
True or false - Just 15% of the food that is wasted could feed 25 million people
What is true?
A system that continually adds material rather than doing it in batches
What is continuous flow?
The three most important requirements/factors for a good composting environment.
What are C:N ratio, moisture, and oxygen content?
The broad term for the primary ingredient that is being composted
What is feedstock?
According to the EPA, this is the LEAST PREFERRED method to solve issues related to food waste.
What is landfill/incineration/sending down the drain?
The single largest component of landfilled waste in the U.S.
What is wasted food?
A system that uses airflow to oxygenate a pile
What is aerated static pile?
The three characteristics of soil that are improved by compost.
What are tilth, microbial communities, and carbon sequestration capacity?
The physical condition of soil
What is tilth?
The Good Samaritan Food Donation Act states that donors (are/are not) held liable for potential problems caused by the food they donate.
What is ARE NOT? Both donors and recipients of donated food are protected against liability, as long as there has been no intentional misconduct.
A potent greenhouse gas that is produced when wasted food is sent to municipal solid waste landfills
What is methane?
A system that consists of a pile of compost in a long row
What is windrow?
The highest temperatures within the compost pile occur during this stage.
What is primary?
A persistent class of chemicals found in many materials, including plastics
What is perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, or forever chemicals)?
25 million hungry people could be fed with just this percentage of the food that is wasted.
What is 15%?
The percent of food produced in the U.S. that goes uneaten
What is 40 percent?
A category of systems that includes drums, shipping containers, barrels, or other enclosures
What is in vessel system?
The main characteristic responsible for the difference between microaggregation and macroaggregation.
What are the dominant organisms? (Macroaggregation occurs in fungally-dominant soils; microaggregation occurs in bacterially-dominant soils)
The process of food being buried and capped, where it biodegrades in the absence of air, with or without energy recovery
What is landfilling?
It is (legal/illegal) to donate food that has passed the 'best used by' date printed on the packaging.
The two valuable products created by anaerobic digestion
What are biogas and digestate?
A system that technically is not composting; rather, worms consume organic material and break it down
What is vermiculture?