Some of us just aren’t composters. Either we don’t have the space or we don’t have the time or we don’t have the inclination.
I’d say all three of those apply to me, but the space problem is the main one. There really isn’t a hidden back area where I could maintain a compost bin, even a relatively compact enclosed spinner, which it would have to be. I live in a dense urban area, with plenty of restaurants nearby. I also like to keep as much of my limited space as ornamental as possible.
Recently, I learned that the City of Buffalo was starting curbside pick-up of food scraps and other compostables and that I would be automatically enrolled in the pilot program. I’m already a client of the Farmer Pirates, who pick up a small bucket (shown above) of scraps and garden waste every 2 weeks. It turns out that the Pirates are partnering with the city to expand this to 2,000 residents. I was paying the Pirates; I won’t have to pay the city. I’ll also have a 12-gallon rolling tote for my compostables – it’s the same size New York City has, which is one of about 90 other municipalities that do this throughout the U.S.
I think all cities should do this. We can sure use the compost and the landfills could do without all the food waste and the methane it generates. I’m sure Rant readers won’t be surprised that the climate footprint of food waste is larger than the entire aviation industry.
Will I get free compost? No. That’s fine, as I am not paying for this as I did with the Pirates. Anyway, I don’t need much, if any, compost. My beds are well-established, with only a few small areas getting mulched now and then. I do know that the resulting compost will be distributed by the Pirates to urban farms and community gardens.
I am a big fan of composting instead of landfilling, without question. As the Pirates always say, Rot on!
I’m a lightweight composter. Leaves, grass clippings, food scraps. The weeds and shrubs trimmings go in the trash. The big trimmings go to the city composter pile. Which gets picked up by a local beef farmer and he combines it with his manure and makes compost.
One neighbor dumps his grass clippings on my pile. Before my trees got big enough to make tons of leaves I would scoop them off the neighbors curbs (our city has leaf pick up). This was a good way to embarrass the children.
My now-adult kids have not so fond memories of being forced to go leaf rustling with me in our old station wagon in the fall.
How interesting! In the UK, some councils are more enlightened than others……living in rural England, mine is fairly high on greeness. I have a small food caddy, like your food bucket, collected weekly (free) and can opt into a big green waste bin (payable) but no free compost. My cousin pays double for her green waste and gets ‘soil improver’ from her recycling tip @£3 a bag – swings and roundabouts, I guess! I am fortunate to have space for a discreetly hidden composter too, but my son who lives in a flat in Brighton, a very ‘green’ city, has no way of recycling food waste….. It would be interesting to hear from London ranters.
I never knew the difference between composting and landfill with respect to methane. I have a pretty large compost pile, often more than I need so I stopped bothering with the small amount of food scraps. Thanks for the info as I will now return to composting ALL the food scraps. And I can use that information to help convince others to do so.
We’ve been directed to add food waste to our green bins for recycling. The change has been rolled out gradually in areas of Los Angeles County but it’s been in place in my area for over a year now. I haven’t seen any data on the degree to which homeowners are participating yet, though.
We are about to move to an area with a high bear population, any kind of outdoor composting of kitchen scraps is out, even burying them. We’ll have a septic tank so using a garbage disposal is also out. I am considering one of those little electric composters for things like veg peelings and apple cores, etc. I know it is not true compost but it has to be better than throwing it in the trash.
Here in Roanoke, Virginia, Star City Compost is getting ready to do the same thing for residences beginning next month. We will be working with our city to sponsor it on a wider basis.
H’mmm . . . I’ve been burying veg. scraps for years when I didn’t have a place for a compost pile. Organic Gardening mag used to call it “trench composting,” and always recommended against any animal products beyond eggshells. Do your Pirates accept bones/fat?
I have to say burying scraps sounds super tedious. Nobody around here accepts or recommends composting bones or fat that I know of, though I have heard some say that is the pile is a good temp it won’t matter.
In Annapolis MD, we have Annapolis Compost which picks up all compostable material weekly. We pay for the service – really reasonable fee – but get the peace of mind of never throwing away any food scraps at all. They take fireplace ash and other materials like that, but mostly it’s the food waste I am happy to remove from our landfills. And we get finished compost every year!
Here in Eastern Massachusetts, “Black Earth Compost” picks up our food waste and other compostable material for a fee, much like Annapolis Compost in the recent comment. They are expanding into the South Shore.