Compost: waste or resource?

Composted wastes of plant, animal, and even human origin are now widely used in soil amendment and as components of substrates for plant growth.

C&C Peat Company has been producing potting soil for the nursery industry for 30 years. The Central Florida company originally used peat as the main substrate in its mixes, but has increased its reliance on organic compost as an alternative.

Over the last eight years, C&C has reduced its volume of peat harvested by 60 percent. The Florida peat used in C&C’s mixes comes from its mining site in Groveland, Fla. Mining, especially in a wetland, as is necessary for peat harvesting, is a sensitive environmental issue. The process of acquiring mining permits and the wetland mitigation that comes along with it is time consuming and expensive. By replacing a significant portion of the peat harvested with compost, the company increases the longevity of its mining sites and has less of an impact on the environment.

“We have always produced custom mixes for nurseries, compost has simply become another tool in the chest,” says C&C Peat’s owner and president Stephen Cook.

Click here to read the full article from our March issue.