Composting to Reduce Waste

What is composting?

It is the process of compiling organic material to be turned into mulch for use in gardens and landscaping.

I ran across this gadget the other night and think it makes a great solution for the more unpleasant aspects of collecting kitchen compost!

NatureMill: Automatic Indoor Compost Bin | Automatic Composter







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There are other ways to compost as well. . .

Composting toilets are an eco-friendly way to dispose of human waste, and come in units that very much resemble toilets as we know them. No septic systems to run, no sewer back-ups to worry about, or water lines needed! When sized correctly, they are the modern "clean" outhouse, and seldom have to be emptied.



A composting toilet can be "homemade" or sophisticated machines that resemble everyday toilets.









This choice may seem extreme to you, but luckily it IS a choice- available for those folks who choose to go this route!

Welcome to the Sustainable Station

We, here at Sustainable Station, want to share with you a vision of the future.

A future that brings unity to communities
and proportions to our lives.
A future that measures the value
of a building by its
ecological footprint and energy efficiency rating.
A future borne of responsibility.
A future that WE can build.

What does your home do for you?
A "home" is often defined as:
-the place where one lives: a residence
-the dwelling places together with the family or social unit that occupies it: a household
-an environment offering security and happiness

What powers your home?

*Most likely your power company uses coal, gas, nuclear power, or hydro-electric power. Coal, gas, oil, and nuclear power deplete limited resources, AND cause pollution. Nuclear power is the cleanest, but takes quite a while and resources to build the plants. Not to mention the radioactive pollution it creates, that has to be stored forever.

Coal mining known as mountaintop removal alone has destroyed the landscape, and habitats around 495 mountains here in the U.S. so far. Learn more about this @ I love mountains.org

Also Kilowatt Ours is an excellent resource for education on energy production. They offer a video that is well worth the donation and a free school course designed to teach the next generation about the challenges we are facing.



Renewable Energy
Only a small portion of people in the world today are using the limitless resources of wind, the sun, water, geothermal power or biomass. These are also, unfortunately, currently the forms of producing electricity that is clean- and not as harmful to the environment.




What CAN your home do for you?
By carefully designing your home or making strategic changes to your existing home you can lower your energy costs and wean your household off of dirty energy and onto clean power. Small things such as switching out your lightbulbs to more energy efficient measures, to larger projects such as powering your home with solar or wind can make a big difference.



How recycling can benefit your home.
Using gently used items or non-perfect items in your home should be a matter of pride. There are several services to help you locate items that can be re-used and where to offer items you are done with.

-Freecycle
-ReUseIt
-Craigslist

There are also many items made from recycled things- such as recycled glass counter tops, insulation made from recycled newspaper or denim, art projects, recycled paint, and plenty of other ways! What can you think of to make something from something else?

Where does trash go?
In spite of our efforts in recent years to reduce waste, littering, and preserving our streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans- there is still a blanket of trash created by ocean currents about twice the size of Texas floating above Hawaii? It is refereed to by marine biologists as a continent of trash. The majority of that garbage arrived in our generation's lifetime.


What is this energy from trash I keep hearing about?
Some communities are setting up plants to extract the methane gas produced by landfills to use it for energy rather than have it contribute to the problem. This is a great solution but we do not have unlimited space for landfills on this planet. Keeping your plastic bottles, cans, cardboard, and newspapers separate from trash for the landfill will reduce waste and help preserve the environment of this planet we call home.

What matters to you in a home?

Do you need a big house with numerous rooms?
Space for all the "stuff" you have accumulated?
Do you just need somewhere to be your "home base?"

I'll explore the Tiny House Movement in a future post. Thanks for reading!