The United States has about 3,300 municipal composting
programs that recycle about 37% of country’s
yard wastes. This is likely to rise as the number of states
(now 20) that ban yard wastes from sanitary landfills
increases. The resulting compost can be used as organic
soil fertilizer, topsoil, or landfill cover. It can also be used
to help restore eroded soil on hillsides and along highways,
and on strip-mined land, overgrazed areas, and
eroded cropland.