Dr. Karen Bell
Keep Liberty Beautiful
During May, we celebrate International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW), the compost industry’s largest and most comprehensive education initiative.
It is celebrated annually nationwide and in other countries during the first week of May.
The goal of ICAW is to collaborate in raising public awareness about the importance of composting our organics, recycling, and using compost. Throughout the week of ICAW, community, school, government, and business events are held to encourage and celebrate composting of all types, from backyard to large-scale. The theme for ICAW 2025 was Sustainable Communities Begin with Compost! From tackling climate change to improving food security, water quality, and enhancing biodiversity, a thoughtful and straightforward act can have a significant, positive impact on composting.
Keep Liberty Beautiful had a booth at our 2025 Earth Day Celebration, where we provided information on composting. During the week of ICAW, we participated in a social media campaign. On the KLB Advisory Board, we have board members who are very interested in composting and would like to offer workshops on the topic, as well as provide composting kits. We are in the planning phase to make that happen.
On the International Compost Alliance website, it was mentioned that “Composting organic residuals and creating compost is proven to tackle climate change, while also helping to grow nutrient-dense food and support healthy soils,” said Susan Antler of the Compost Council of Canada. Add to this, it can also bring communities together, support local food systems and help achieve sustainability goals.
This year’s theme, “Sustainable Communities Begin with Compost!”, drives home a powerful truth that every banana peel, coffee ground, and lawn clipping we compost instead of throwing them away delivers significant environmental gains by:
1. Reducing methane emissions: Organic waste in landfills generates methane, a greenhouse gas with 86 times the global warming potential of CO₂ over 20 years. Diverting organic waste to composting or anaerobic digestion can drastically cut these emissions.
2. Keeping nutrients in circulation: Many valuable nutrients in organic residuals can be returned to our soils for further productive use through compost. These nutrients are not returned to the soil if incinerated.
3. Increasing soil health: Compost produced from the recycling of organic residuals improves soil structure, enriches soil with nutrients, enhances water retention, minimizes soil erosion, and strengthens biodiversity.
4. Fighting climate change: Compost’s return to the soil serves as a “carbon bank,” helping to store carbon and thereby removing it from the atmosphere, thereby mitigating climate change.
The Keep Liberty Beautiful mission is to educate and raise awareness about what we can do to make Liberty County a clean, green, and beautiful place. Here are 10 reasons to love Compost:
1. It turns trash into treasure. Food scraps and yard waste become rich, life-giving soil. It’s the ultimate upcycle! Over 30% of what we toss could be composted. Composting lightens the load on our landfills — and our planet.
2. It reduces greenhouse gases. Composting prevents organic waste from decomposing in landfills, where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.
3. It feeds the soil, not the landfill. Composting produces compost, the single most important ingredient for healthy and productive soil. Compost contains lots of slowly released plant nutrients.
4. Improve soil structure. Healthy compost not only adds nutrients but also improves soil structure, reducing erosion and revitalizing tired soils.
5. It supports local food systems. Compost helps grow more resilient crops and more nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables — right in our communities.
6. It’s free and easy to start. Whether you live in an apartment or on a farm, there’s a composting method for you (hello, worm bins!). You can turn your leftover organics into a valuable soil amendment without spending a dime. It’s a simple step that can make a significant difference.
7. It saves water. Compost enhances the soil’s ability to retain moisture, resulting in reduced watering needs and increased drought resistance.
8. It increases resilience. Compost makes communities more resilient to extreme weather conditions by increasing soil infiltration and being the key component in green infrastructure media mixes.
9. It builds community. From school gardens to neighborhood compost hubs, composting brings people together for a common cause.
10. It’s the future of sustainable living. If we’re serious about combating climate change and protecting ecosystems, composting must be part of the solution.
We hope this information about composting has motivated you to start composting at home or work! Come out and join us for World Ocean Day. Before June 8, you can call the office to arrange for a Cleanup Kit to help clean up our waterways. On June 9, learn about protecting our water at the KLB Office at the Liberty County Community Complex, 9397 East Oglethorpe Hwy, Midway, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information, please get in touch with Keep Liberty Beautiful at (912) 880-4888 or klcb@libertycountyga.gov.