page_title: Compost
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Compost / Examples
caption_attribution_description: English: Edmonton Composting Facility
context_page_description: Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed in a process called composting. This process recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner.
  Compost is rich in nutrients. It is used, for example, in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture and organic farming. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. Compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
  At the simplest level, the process of composting requires making a heap of wet organic matter, such as leaves, grass, and food scraps, and waiting for the materials to break down into humus after a period of months. However, composting can also take place as a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air, and carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture when open piles or "windrows" are used.
context_section_description: Large-scale composting systems are used by many urban areas around the world.
  The world's largest municipal co-composter for municipal solid waste (MSW) is the Edmonton Composting Facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which turns 220,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste and 22,500 dry tonnes of sewage sludge per year into 80,000 tonnes of compost. The facility is 38,690 m² (416,500 sq ft) in area, equivalent to 4½ Canadian football fields, and the operating structure is the largest stainless steel building in North America.
  In 2006, Qatar awarded Keppel Seghers Singapore, a subsidiary of Keppel Corporation, a contract to begin construction on a 275,000 tonne/year anaerobic digestion and composting plant licensed by Kompogas Switzerland. This plant, with 15 independent anaerobic digesters, will be the world's largest composting facility once fully operational in early 2011 and forms part of Qatar's Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre, the largest integrated waste management complex in the Middle East.
  Another large municipal solid waste composter is the Lahore Composting Facility in Lahore, Pakistan, which has a capacity to convert 1,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day into compost. It also has a capacity to convert substantial portion of the intake into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) materials for further combustion use in several energy consuming industries across Pakistan, for example in cement manufacturing companies where it is used to heat cement kilns. This project has also been approved by the Executive Board of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for reducing methane emissions, and has been registered with a capacity of reducing 108,686 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per annum.
  Kew Gardens in London has one of the biggest non-commercial compost heaps in Europe.
  Compost is used as a soil amendment in organic farming.
  Within an EU project conducted in Portugal and Spain, organic compost has been successfully used to revive degraded landscapes by improving the quality of soil.
caption: Edmonton Composting Facility
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