Are many little piles better than one big one?

Question

Why do people say composting is wonderful and landfills are evil?

Answer 1

When you compost you are not putting things like diapers or plastics into your compost pile.  Its more like table scraps and things like that, done properly, composting makes a good fertilizer.  People put everything into landfills, plastics that take hundreds of years to biodegrade and diapers and who knows what else.  We have eliminated nearly all of our trash with composting and recycling.

Answer 2

Princess is correct in that plastic does not biodegrade inside or outside of a landfill.  However, even organic materials that you can compost do not biodegrade in a landfill.

This is because modern landfills are lined in plastic and items sent to the landfill are quickly covered by more items.  For organic material to biodegrade, they need to be exposed to air, light, and water which they are not exposed to.

So if it is organic, compost it.  If not, try to recycle it.  Once it goes to the landfill, it will not go away for a very long time.

"The Garbage Project discovered, however, that decomposition in landfills may not work. Biodegradation may be a longer process than we thought. Food and yard waste in easily identifiable form were found in the landfills even after being buried for years."

"Conditions are not ideal in landfills for biodegradation. Some food does degrade, but at a very slow rate or about 50 percent every 20 years, according to the Garbage Project. The remainder of the refuse in landfills seems to have retained its original weight volume, and form even after 25 years."