In Texas, the market for renewable energy sources has been injected with a Texas-style fervor propelling it forward at an astonishing speed. The state-wide focus on sustainable energy has established new and greener relationships between the environment, the business community, industrial and residential practices.Composting is one such new program. As a sustainable energy source, compost poses a valuable contribution to landscaping road sides, providing a spreadable base for grass seed or sod and to build up side banks preventing erosion and wash-out from heavy rain storms.One of the greener solutions for environmental management is to use compost, landscaping waste and mulched leaves as a base for new growth in parks and open areas. Formerly, these items would have been designated as landfill despite the fact that they represent an environmentally-friendly alternative to re-filling gaps in vegetation left by the construction of highways. While it may seem as though environmentally-friendly mulch does not pose a threat in a land fill site, it is a waste of a viable biodegradable product. Mixing it in with other toxic materials renders it useless and wastes its potential as a renewable and efficient source of energy.Examples of usable compost include:• yard waste, landscaping trimmings, last year’s Christmas trees, sawdust• biologically-friendly solids from wastewater-treatment plants• cafeteria and restaurant food waste, newspapers, cardboard, cotton gin trash• slaughter waste, manure, animal carcasses• unusable hay, past ripen vegetables and fruit or other agricultural produce• out-dated beer, wine and liquor and spoiled milk productsSustainability has a tri-level bottom line in the Texas business community; it has to make better sense economically, environmentally and increase greener practises in agriculture, forestry, urban and rural areas.
