By Paola Velasco Castro
Composting has become a practice increasingly used to recycle the organic waste we produce. In San Miguel there is an initiative that is having many followers: Composta SMA. The Atencion team spoke exclusively with the director of this project, Daniela del Villar.
Tell us about your SMA Compost project
Composta SMA is a non-profit project whose purpose is to prevent organic waste from reaching the municipal dump where it causes serious pollution problems. Instead, we channel the waste to have it treated properly, then turn it into an amazing fertilizer to improve soil health and help curb climate change. Anyone who lives in San Miguel de Allende can sign up for the program. Once registered, you will receive a container or more, if you need them, in which to put your waste. Once a week our mobile composter will come to your house to collect them, exchanging your used container for a clean one. After a month you will begin to receive ready-to-use compost. To sign up, just visit our site, CompostaSMA.com and click the yellow button. Registration costs 500 pesos and collections 90 pesos.
What are the benefits of composting?
When we compost our organic waste, we create «gold.» Compost is a valuable material for the soil and our survival as a species depends largely on the health of the soil. Having a healthy soil full of microorganisms helps us have a healthy ecosystems; flora and crops that are more resistant to diseases and pests. Compost in the soil increases moisture retention up to 40%, preventing erosion and desertification of the landscape, by retaining water it helps filtration and recharging aquifers. It also helps plants capture carbon from the atmosphere, lowering the temperature of the planet.
Compost can be used in gardens, orchards, community gardens, parks, farms, and for the regeneration of ecosystems in decline; it is what the International Regeneration organization does. We believe that while it is important to compost, more importantly we need to keep our waste from going to landfills. Each person according to their ability, can make compost at home, with their own community or with us.
Natural cycles have an inner “wisdom” guaranteeing that any process in nature is beneficial to another process. Humans are the only animals that do not live a 100% waste-free life. We call this phenomenon “garbage.” However, the notion is absurd because garbage does not really exist, since 95% of the waste we generate can be avoided or recycled. What is needed is to do it. The moment when the future is determined is when we have waste and decide where to put it: «It is only garbage if it is a mess.» Of course, there is even a more important time when we decide the future; the time when we buy something. Every peso we spend is a vote we cast that shapes the future for all. Garbage is already garbage before we buy it.
Tips to start composting at home
The easiest way to make compost is to subscribe to the CompostaSMA program because we do it all for you. To all those enthusiasts who want to start composting at home, we cheer you on. The type of method to choose will depend on the amount of space you have at home, the amount of time you want to dedicate to it, and the quality of compost you want. As a general rule, the important thing is to have 30% dry matter, such as sawdust or stubble, and the rest will be moist material such as yard trimmings, food, etc. Take care that it is neither too dry nor too wet and turn it over so that it can breathe; the first time after fifteen days, then once a week, and then every two weeks. Compost can also be left alone and it will be turn out well, although it takes longer and it will be of inferior quality. If you have space at home, you can have a compost bin in an open area. However, if you want compost with excellent quality, and have the patience, the best thing is a vermi-composter. We would love to see a vermi-composters under every sink in every house throughout the country. Come and attend one of our workshops to learn more. Also, if your neighbors want to have a community composter, we will be happy to do it. The requirement is that each person commits to working on it one hour a week, that there be more than 20 people, that they have an available piece of land such as an empty lot.
