Reduce, reuse...or compost?

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I noticed waste containers labeled: “recycle,” “compost,” and “landfill.” Okay, I was familiar with “recycle” (plastic, paper, or cans) and with “landfill” (we call that trash, here in L.A.); but what on earth was supposed to go in “compost”?

The EPA defines compost as “organic material that can be used as a soil amendment or as a medium to grow plants.”

On our family farm in southern Illinois, we did not have a garbage disposal. Instead, we disposed of all food waste by simply tossing it out in one of the fields around our home. That which was not eaten outright by the critters fertilized the soil to help our crops grow. It was what we would call a win-win-win in the business world.

However, I’d never seen an official “compost” can in a public venue before. What was that about?

Apparently, composting is big business. Norcal Waste Systems, Inc. offers curbside pick-up of food scraps and other compostable materials, which comprise about a third of all residential garbage. Over 300 tons of food scraps and yard waste are collected each day and then processed by large-scale composting facilities outside of the city.

Participating customers can throw everything from food scraps and tree trimmings to paper take-out boxes (you know, those oil-stained pizza boxes that regular recyclers won’t accept) and even cutlery labeled “compostable” into green compost carts. The waste is then processed and turned into a rich, organic material which can be used to fertilize local vineyards and farms as well as for landscape supply yards.

In addition to providing a quality product for local businesses, Norcal Waste Systems and its subsidiaries are helping to meet San Francisco’s mandated goal of diverting 75% of garbage to recycling by 2010, surpassing California’s 50% recycling law (AB939). Currently, food waste in most cities goes directly to landfills where it decomposes and creates methane, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Reducing the amount of food waste we dump into our landfills could have a significant effect on greenhouse gas emissions as well as on the cost to those businesses who receive discounts off their garbage bills. According to Norcal Waste Systems, “Many restaurants are composting over 75% of their waste! With up to 75% discounts off your garbage bill for recycling and composting, you WILL lower your garbage costs by recycling and composting more.”

And that’s food for thought.

A Day Without A Bag

I just wanted to pass this along: Heal the Bay is promoting “A Day Without a Bag” this coming Thursday, December 18th.

The day may come when we’ll have bioplastic bags that are both biobased (versus petroleum based) and biodegradable; but, in the meantime, it is probably best to find some other way to transport our groceries and reduce the waste we dump into our environment.

The thing about living in suburbia or in the city is we don’t actually see where our waste goes. We just put it out in our trashcans, and it magically disappears. In rural areas, people aren’t so lucky. They actually have to look their garbage in the face and figure out what to do with it. For the most part, they end up reusing what they need, recycle what they can, and burning the rest.

The problem is plastic doesn’t burn. It just sizzles and smolders and emits noxious fumes before melting into the ground, where it most likely leaches into the soil and contaminates everything around it for years to come. It’s not pretty.

If we all had to actually figure out what to do with our garbage, we’d probably generate a lot less. In the meantime, give the Earth an early Christmas present this year and BYOB (bring your own bag).

The Accidental Environmentalist

This past week the official site of the Democratic National Convention offered an entire “Greening” page on their website, which included several useful Green Tips of the Week


My favorite is Tip #38:
Stop Mail Delivery of Catalogs
Catalog Choice is a FREE service which offers participants the ability to choose which catalogs end up in their mailbox. The steps are simple and you can opt out of most catalogs through one comprehensive website. Visit http://www.catalogchoice.org/ for more information and to choose which catalogs you wish to discontinue. The mission of Catalog Choice is to reduce the number of repeat and unwanted catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices. Choose to shop online at your favorite retailers rather than using their catalogs!
Source: www.catalogchoice.org

I'm not a big fan of catalogs anyway, so this is a win-win for me and for the environment. And really, at the end of the day, that is what will inspire me to be more green. Like most Americans, my sense of altruism only goes so far. At some point, I have to see a clear, positive outcome in order to stick with a learned behavior.

I am not an environmentalist by nature (no pun intended); but I am concerned about what is happening to our planet, and I do want to help make things better. I won’t debate with anyone whether global warming is real or not. The fact of the matter is, regardless, we are polluting our planet and squandering our natural resources to such an extent that even the most hardened skeptic must at some point address the issue of sustainability.

On January 26, 2007, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13423, which states:
…“sustainable” means to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans…

If we stop bickering about the topics of the day and start dealing with the real issues – that is, what each of us can do, personally, to reduce, recycle, reuse, and rethink our current lifestyle and business choices – we might all become accidental environmentalists…and improve our bottom line while we’re at it.