Two-thousand, five-hundred tons. That's how much garbage New Yorkers generate every single day. Mark Bigelow, the Director of the Staten Island Composting Project, says that in your lifetime, you'll throw away 600 times your body weight in trash. But much of that, he says, doesn't need to end up in a landfill. Almost half of the city's garbage is organic waste, and mixing it in with the rest of your trash is not only wasteful, it's detrimental to the environment-on several different levels.

"First, there's all the extra weight that needs to be shipped, using fuel," Bigelow explains. In addition, when you throw organic waste in the landfill, it gets trapped under all the non-organic trash. Since it needs oxygen to break down, in a sense, it's buried alive. "Without oxygen, it decomposes anaerobically," Bigelow continues. "That produces ammonia and methane, and methane is one of the leading greenhouse gasses - twenty-times more are emitted than CO2. It's very harmful for the atmosphere."

But there are alternatives to this situation. Bigelow is standing in a rehearsal space at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden on Richmond Terrace. Twice a month, the public is invited there to attend a free composting class. The class tends to attract gardeners who are primarily focused on their little bit of earth rather than Mother Earth as a whole.

Whatever their motivation, the result is the same: less trash in the landfill. "Every household produces two pounds of organic waste a day," estimates Jason Bentsen, the Nursery Manager at Wiesner Brothers Nursery on Victory Boulevard. Oddly enough, while Bigelow's class was all gardeners, Bentsen says very few gardeners come into the nursery to inquire about composting.

"It's usually environmental enthusiasts," he says, claiming that he can always tell who is likely to be a composter from who isn't. "Usually a composter is like a hipster." He points to the coffee cups we each brought to our early morning meeting and explains, "More frequently, it would be the person who buys their coffee from Starbucks is composting," he laughs, "and the guy who buys at Dunkin Donuts is not."

Coffee companies aside, what exactly is composting? Bentsen, who hosts tours of the nursery and its compost pile for kids from kindergarten through 3rd grade, says, "I explain to them that it's recycling; it's recycling nature."

In the same way we spare plastic bottles and soda cans from the landfill and give them new life as some other product, the same can be done with organic waste. Egg shells, coffee grinds (Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts), potato peels, fall leaves-all of these things can be saved from the landfill and given new life as compost. Mix that in with your top soil, and what came from nature not only returns to nature, but also benefits it.

"Primarily, you'll see more healthy plants," says Bigelow. "Unlike chemical fertilizers, which might produce greater yields, I think the health of the plant is more affected by compost."

But like gardening, composting requires patience and dedication. As one participant in Bigelow's recent class put it, "It's a lot of labor."

First, you have to set up a bin. Bigelow says a cubic yard (3-feet-high, 3-feet-deep and 3-feet-wide) is the ideal size to reach optimal composting conditions. You can purchase a ready-made bin, like the Garden Gourmet, or build your own using wood, wire mesh or even a garbage can with holes drilled into it. The important thing is to make sure it's well ventilated. "Air is vital," says Bigelow.

That's because, not unlike the Trash Heap from the television show Fraggle Rock, your compost pile is a living thing. Tucked in among your egg shells and coffee grinds are thousands of microorganisms, hard at work for you and the environment. From bacteria to bugs (principally worms) these creatures are consuming and digesting what you are feeding into the bin.

Which brings us to step two: Add organic materials. Bigelow says it's important to have an equal mix of Greens and Browns. Green waste is rich is nitrogen-things like banana peels, hedge clippings, weeds, and coffee grounds and filters. Brown waste is rich in carbon-eggs shells, corn cobs, bread, fall leaves, soiled paper towels. The smaller, the better, Bigelow says. "The finer you chop it and shred it, the quicker it will decompose." He also says to never add plants that have been treated with pesticides, as those chemicals will kill the organisms in your bin.

Another thing to avoid: meat scraps. "If you are putting chunks of chicken grizzle in there, that's going to attract rats," warns Bentsen. Oils, fats, and cheeses should also be avoided.

Next, just add water and stir...literally. Not too wet and not too dry. Bigelow says that if your bin is just right, it will have the consistency of a wet sponge. Then every two weeks, give it a crank or use a pitchfork to mix it and keep it aerated. "You want to turn it," he says, "Kind of fluff it up."

From there, it's wait and feed. Every few days, add more organic waste, keep the conditions right and let the microorganisms do the rest. In a matter of months, you'll have what the Department of Sanitation calls "black gold:" nutrient rich compost ready to be mixed with soil and added to your garden or flowerbox.

"Composting helps enrich the soil; it cuts back on the amount of fertilizer that you have to use," says Bentsen. "When someone comes in and they want to plant a new tree, I definitely recommend adding some compost to the top soil."

In the end, both Bentsen and Bigelow say composting not only yields better results in your garden, but also helps foster budding eco-consciousness.

"I think when people start composting, it's so tangible," says Bigelow. "It makes people conscious of how much they throw away and it changes your perspective of what garbage is."

"It's like doing your part at home," Bentsen explains. "Plus it's fun. You make something. If you make a vegetable garden, you start it with composting and you make something out of it."

"Plus, you get bragging rights," he adds with enthusiasm. Holding up an imaginary item in triumph, he declares, "I've got an organic garden and look at this tomato!"

To find out more about composting or to attend a class, contact the Staten Island Compost Project at 718.425.3558.