American homeowners spend hundreds of hours a year mowing, clipping, raking, and landscaping to keep yards healthy and our property attractive.

Unfortunately, landscaping practices produce huge amounts of waste. So much in fact, that yard waste is second only to paper in the municipal solid waste stream. By following a few simple waste reduction practices, you can not only improve your lawn and garden, but also the environment.

For a list of practices specific to our region, see the U.S. EPA's Mid-Atlantic Region's Green Landscaping guide.

To save space in landfills, prevent waste, and reduce gases associated with climate change, many local governments have banned yard waste from their waste disposal programs. Pennsylvania’s Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act requires all households and commercial, institutional and municipal establishments in larger communities to separate leaf and yard waste for collection and/or composting.

Yard waste is a major expense for municipal waste programs, which pass the costs on to residents and businesses. Composting organic wastes is typically much cheaper than disposing of them in a landfill or resource recovery facility, where the statewide average disposal cost is $54 per ton.

In addition, most waste – even organic waste – can take years to decompose in a landfill. In fact, researchers have unearthed whole vegetables and readable newspapers that have been buried in landfills for decades.

More than 30 percent of Pennsylvania’s municipal waste stream is yard waste, food waste and other organic material that could be recycled and composted, rather than being added to landfills. Nearly 2 million tons of yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings and brush are produced in Pennsylvania each year.

Until 1988, much of this yard waste went into Pennsylvania landfills or was burned. By diverting organic wastes from disposal, the useful lives of landfills in Pennsylvania could be extended as much as 30 percent.

Landfills also can produce methane gas, which is a major contributor to climate change, and incinerated yard waste produces carbon dioxide, another gas associated with climate change. Alternatively, composting organic wastes returns natural resources to productive use as mulch or soil amendments.

Compost not only adds nutrients to soil, it also increases the ability to retain moisture – an important benefit in times of drought.

To learn more, visit DEP's Compost webpage or EPA's Greenscape webpage.

6/23/2006