Question

a) What do you do with leftover food at home?
b) If you and your friends are given the choice of eating on a plastic plate or a banana leaf platter at a party, which one would you prefer and why?

Answer 1

Hint: In gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, compost enhances soil fertility. Compost provides nutrients to crops as a fertiliser, acts as a soil conditioner, increases the humus or humic acid content of the soil, and introduces helpful microbial colonies that help reduce diseases in the soil.

Complete answer:
(a) Collected leftover food can be used to produce compost. Compost offers critical nutrients for plant growth and development.
(b) We'd rather eat our meals on a banana leaf plate. This is due to the fact that a leaf plate is a harmless item that can be composted to produce manure, but plastic plates cannot be composted into harmless things. They are not biodegradable, therefore they linger in the environment and cause a slew of issues.
Compost is made up of a variety of components that are used to nourish and enhance soil. It is usually made from decaying plant and food waste, as well as organic materials that have been recycled. Plant nutrients and helpful organisms like worms and fungal mycelium are abundant in the resultant combination. Composting, at its most basic level, entails accumulating a mixture of 'Greens' and 'Browns'. Greens are nitrogen-rich materials such as leaves, grass, and food wastes. Browns are more carbon-rich woody products, such as stalks, paper, and wood chips. The materials are wetted to break them down into humus, a months-long process.

Note
To function properly, composting organisms require four equally vital ingredients:
Carbon — for energy; if added at recommended quantities, the microbial oxidation of carbon generates heat. Brown and dry are common characteristics of high carbon materials.
Nitrogen is needed to help organisms grow and reproduce in order to oxidise carbon. Green (or colourful, as in fruits and vegetables) and moist materials have a high nitrogen content.
Oxygen is used in the breakdown process to oxidise carbon.
Water — in sufficient quantities to keep activity going without producing anaerobic conditions.