About two years ago I was watching a documentary about things that can be done to help the environment. Specifically this film spoke about the tremendous amount of food waste that goes into landfills every day. It mentioned that we waste about 40% of the food we produce and that was enough to fill the Rose Bowl everyday.
Even worse was the fact that this stuff sits in landfills and produces methane, which is 20 times more harmful than other greenhouse gases. These figures were pretty daunting and they made me think about what can be done to solve this issue. How can we reduce the amounts of food waste that enters our landfills?
That was the big question and immediately the idea of composting came to mind. The host of the documentary wasn’t too far behind my thinking as she began showing how there were companies that were collecting food wastes on a large scale and then composting them. They were going around to hospitals, restaurants and schools and educating them about reducing food wastes and how they would pick up their food scraps for composting.
It was a win-win situation. The various businesses and institutions were reducing the amounts of garbage that they produced which resulted in lower costs for refuse collection. The company collecting the food scraps was then able to make valuable compost that could be sold to consumers and farmers for use in their gardens.
This was definitely a great solution to one environmental issue that we could control. It also got me thinking about how my family can reduce the amount of food wastes that we throw away every day. I had previously built a compost bin in the corner of our yard the year before. However up until then I only used it for disposing of leaves, garden waste, and hedge clippings. As a family we decided to start putting our food scraps into the compost pile as well. Things like banana peels, vegetable scraps, apple cores, coffee grinds, and other fruit scraps were added religiously to the compost pile. After several weeks we noticed that we were not putting as much garbage out to the curb for pickup. Our compost pile was working great and doing its job. This is how our compost pile looks.
Our small compost pile has at least 500 banana peels, 3 large pumpkins, 200 lemon and lime skins and lots of other fruit and vegetable scraps…all mixed with leaves.
What remained to be seen was if our compost pile would be able to provide enough compost for our gardens. We have a small vegetable garden in our backyard and a larger flower and plant garden in the front. Unfortunately our pile was not producing enough compost to suit our needs. We wanted to supplement our compost needs with an outside source but couldn’t find a brand that we were confident in using. That was until we found EcoScraps Organic Compost at Walmart.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by EcoScraps and Walmart. However, all content presented in this post represents my own opinions
We bought a couple of bags of the EcoScraps Organic Compost and EcoScraps Organic Tomato and Plant food. It was perfect timing for our spring flower and vegetable planting.
My daughter and I worked the EcoScraps Organic Compost into the soil and then planted our flowers and vegetables. The compost was that dark black gold that you want to see in compost. We are looking forward to seeing the positive results in our garden that are sure to come over the next couple of months. We are also happy knowing that we are supporting a company that is making positive contributions towards our environment.
Check out this video to see how EcoScraps collects food waste and composts them into natural and organic garden soils and plant food.
Enter to win $50 Walmart gift card! Ecoscraps organic dirt can be found in Walmart stores in their Home and Lawn Department and online. One lucky Big Apple Mama reader will win a $50 Walmart gift card.
Updated: The lucky winner is Julie Cutshaw! Congratulations!
To enter just fill out at least one of the entries on Rafflecopter form below! This contest will end May 25, 2016 at 9:59 pm Eastern time and is open to US only. Good luck! Winner will be chosen randomly by 5/27 and be notified by email. The winner has 48 hours to respond, or a new winner will be chosen, and so on and so forth. The prize will be fulfilled by the sponsor.
Quick tip:
Did you know that planting Bananas under your garden rows, (6-8 weeks before You plant your seeds) – will slowly feed your plants with potassium throughout the growing season as bananas decompose? I read it in a gardening book from 1910! Cool right? I’m trying it this year! Bananas and perhaps egg shells! (Photo credit Cj / I love my kids blog)
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I would like Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food for our veggie garden.
Ecoscraps moisture for my vegtables!
I would choose the natural and organic eroscraps for garden. So that way my fruit and veggies are grown safely and mosit
I would love to try the moist garden soil. We will be creating some new gardens in our yard and I would love to start with the best soil.
I am wanting to start a garden soon but nervous cause I definitely do not have a green thumb
I like the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Potting Mix because I plant a lot of flowers for Summer and I want a good organic potting mix to help my plants.
I think composting is great! I would like to try the Ecoscraps Natural & Organic Fresh Start Plant Food!
Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food. I need this for my vegetable garden.
I would love to try the moist garden soil. We are planning on planting this weekend.
I would choose the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Garden Soil. I like that it is sustainable and Eco-Friendly! 🙂
I’d love to be able to do some composting. Your article here taught me some things about it, thanks!
Ecoscraps garden soil. I am getting ready to start my first garden. I think this might be very helpful.
I actually just purchased the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Garden Soil last week. I love that it has organic materials in it and is affordable, high quality and works great in my gardens and flower beds!
I think composting is great, but harder to do in an apartment.
I don’t have a yard – yet, I’m starting to look – but I would want Ecoscraps Natural & Organic Rose and Flower Plant Food, and have some pretty roses! I’ve always wanted to plant some.
I like the organic potting mix 🙂
thanks!
I like the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Garden Soil because I like that it retains moisture to keep the plants from drying out.
I’d go with the Ecoscraps Natural & Organic Rose and Flower Plant Food. My roses aren’t doing great this year, I was thinking it was the wild weather, but maybe they just need some food.
Oh this is such a great idea! We love to garden! I would love to use the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Garden Soil in our garden!
I love composting! What better way to use every bit of the fruits & veggies we don’t use! So good for the plants!!
I would get the organic and moist garden sack. I have all raised beds so its’ important to keep them moist! I am glad someone is putting this waste to good use!
I would like to try Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food because we are planning to start an herb garden in our yard.
I am all for composting.
We started a pile at our senior gardens last year.
thank you
I would choose the Organic tomato and herb vegetable plant food.
I think composting is an excellent idea. I like that Ecoscrapes takes recycled food and can be used in such a great way.
I do composting and find the veggies I grow are so much better in color, size and taste.
I would choose the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food because I am growing mainly veggies, tomatoes, and herbs this year
Thanks for the chance to win
i think composting is great. its been so useful for us
I love the idea of composting. This will make the soil very rich & we can use them for planting
I Like The Ecoscraps Natural & Organic All Purpose Plant Food, Because It Natural Ingredients
love to choose -Natural-and-Organic-Moist-Potting-Mix
I would choose their organic moist potting soil.
I think composting is great and I’ve been learning about it from my neighbor. I think it’s way better than putting chemicals into the ground. Thanks for the great giveaway!
I love the banana idea! I really need to compost more.
Oh my goodness!! I love the banana tip! I saw the bananas in the first picture and had to figure out why you were ‘planting’ bananas. 😀 Such a great tip!
Glad it was helpful Dawn. Along with banana peels you can use egg shells for calcium.
I like the EcoScraps Moist Compost! It will work on all the veggies and my flowers! And, yes – we truly believe in compost and all our veggie scraps hit the compost bin here.
i like the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Potting Mix because its great to use when planting trees and shrubs
I would love to try their Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Rose and Flower Plant Food.
Composting is a wonderful thing to do! We keep a bin in our kitchen for all of our compostable materials, like produce scraps, shredded paper, eggshells, coffee grounds, etc. In our backyard is a compost pile that continuously helps us provide great quality nutrients to our garden.
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 at gmail dot com
Hi Irina, I think I’d like to try the Ecoscraps Moist Compost, 1 cu ft first. We have such slate rock ground where we live and very little top soil, and we live on a slop so all rain just runs off leaving the ground to try. Thus why I love growing my flowers and vegetables in containers. So I feel this choice from Ecoscraps would help with the needed moisture in my growing when the sun beats own on the area so harsh. Thank you, great review for multi solutions to all types of gardening.
The moisture product for all of my plants.
My plants would love the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food.
I love the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food. I would definitely use it when planting my tomatoes and herbs.
I would probably choose the Natural and Organic Moist Garden Soil. Thank you for the giveaway — I’d love to win the gift card.
I would choose the EcoScraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb and Vegetable plant food because I want to start a vegetable garden!!
id like to try the Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Moist Potting Mix for potting plants
my college aged son who in his spare time of college likes to garden so he surely needs this product
Ecoscraps Natural and Organic Tomato, Herb & Vegetable Plant Food
He’s in the process of trying to grow more potted veggies for our use
I like the Ecoscraps Moist Compost for it’s general usefullness
I would love to try the EcoScraps moist soil, it would be perfect for my veggie garden!
I love composting as it is a way to put back into the earth what we have already used. It is a great way to practice “being green”.
I Like The Ecoscraps Natural & Organic All Purpose Plant Food
This is blessed news and I’m truly thankful to get the chance o try the Ecoscraps organic dirt from Walmart. And help grow more green leafy vegetables to help my husband get more iron in his diet after his colon surgery and chemo. Thank you so much Irina. I replied to your winning email notification. Have a blessed memorial day wknd. ~Julie