Toxins in Compost Geoff Lawton Permaculture

Composting is a classic example of working with nature. When designing compost piles, we are mimicking the natural process of decomposition. We design compost to increase in speed of decomposition, life and diversity beyond the natural process.

Compost is a vital part of nutrient cycling for sustainable food production. In this video Geoff discusses small amounts of toxins being included in compost processes.
How much do we need to worry about whether our compost ingredients have been in contact with pesticides? What about kitchen scraps from conventional growers?

• Category

  Education

[Wayne Osmand]

My wife who is also doing your course has christened you "Moses of the Mallee" Wonderfull thing you are doing for the planet Geoffrey, you and your people deserve more recognition for what you all have been doing for so long! You must get fruztrated sometimes with the appathy of others to busy being blind to see the solution!

[beachcomber2008]

Succinct.

[glockman1727ak47]

Got to Love the thoughts of Mr. Lawton. Solid stuff!

[happybuddyperson]

Compost turns the harmful chemicals into benign ones, as long as there is not more toxic stuff than organic material.

[Houba Hop]

What about composting cardboard, papers and treated wood? They contain xylene, toluene, highly toxic petrol chemistry. Would this be possible to destroy the toxins?

[psbjr]

some pesticides, such as clopyralid, are much more resistant to bacterial composting. I think certain fungi can deal with them, though I have never been unfortunate enough to have to try this. But yes, you're better off mulching and "composting in place" and keeping a small pile made from known materials for annuals than you are trucking in untested materials en masse.

[Mikefromgeorgia]

@Mikefromgeorgia compost.

[Mikefromgeorgia]

if gmo crops grow pesticides, wouldnt a gmo compust also have lots of pesticides?

[Kim Bauer]

i bought some compost couple of years back by a green startup that was recycling yard green waste and after a couple years they had samples sent to a lab,which came back as toxic with herbicides,etc. that were supposed to break down in six months.anyway just about anything i tried to grow in this stuff died within a couple of days.so maybe the composting seems to have concentrated this stuff or perhaps there is too much to break rapidly because of over fertilization to begin with.