I grew up in a family that composted organic waste. There was always a container on the counter, either to the right or left of the kitchen sink, that was there for the sole purpose of collecting all compost-worthy bits and scraps. The job of taking the container out to the edge of the backyard (which was all of 50 feet from the house) was often delegated to either my sister or me. Other than the times when the container would slip out of my hands and send me reaching into the black plastic composter to retrieve it, I never minded the chore. I liked the idea that our scraps were getting turned back into usable, nutrient-rich soil.
When I moved to Philly, it took me a long time to get used to chucking my cucumber peels, apple cores and other vegetal material into the trash bin (I still cringe when I make veggie-intensive meals, thinking of all the nice black compost I could be helping create). I've considered getting a worm bin for under my kitchen sink, but my building has a strong prohibition against pets, and I'm not sure that worms would pass muster (and I'm a little concerned about what would happen if they broke loose).
With all this history in mind, you'll know just how envious I was to learn that the Seattle City Council recently passed an ordinance requiring that by 2009 "all single-family homes subscribe to food-waste recycling." They already offer the option of table-scrap recycling, but it isn't compulsory. Oh, that Philadelphia would only take on a similar program (but since we only started having a single-stream curbside recycling program, I'm not holding my breath).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1When transportation fees, union dues, and fuel prices are factored in, I can't imagine that this will be have a net positive effect on our energy and food supplies. My father has a compost pile at his home deep in the Rockies, and I have fed it many times when I visited there, but rural is rural, and Seattle is an urban environment. This smacks of politically correct post-Gramscian pre-totalitarian feel-good legislation, and will be evaded and properly ignored.
Green is the New Red.
It would be far more useful to concentrate on particulate matter in the air and toxins in the water, but compost heaps just feel oh-so-uber-righteous.
Who will spread that nice, expensive black soil? Where? Who will pick it up? How much will that cost?
Who will be taxed?
This is about power, not the environment.
37-21-2007 @ 7:56PM
Andrea Eaton said...
Here we go again....someone trying to make me be a good person! Big Brother is watching out for me and the food scraps. It seems that these people have way too much time on their hands and are way too into my business. Where will the food scraps go and what type of insects and vermin will it lure? Way to go people!
4I'm struggling to keep my tiny little herb garden alive, and would just *love* to have some nice compost to feed them with... unfortunately, I live in a little efficiency and my patio space is just barely enough for my plants and patio table. When I get my own home/domicile with a yard, creating a little compost area is definitely on the list of priorities.
Albiet; once I put some veggie scraps in a jar, filled with dirt and potted some garlic, and it grew so fast that the greens were growing sky high before flopping and coiling around the jar. Still; I go through so many veggies there's no way I could 'salvage' them all in pots and whatnot.
Darn.
57-22-2007 @ 1:41PM
Chris White said...
My wife and I live in Seattle, and already compost. It's no harder than taking out the trash. We use the compost for our small garden. It's great.
I'm a bit disappointed in the short sited "who's going to pay for it", "it's big brother" comments. If done properly this will save the city money. Do you think the soil for all city lands, parks, roadways etc is free? This should be a very good thing all the way around. It's just another form of recycling, or is that evil big brother taking over too?
Look at it this way, it will make more room in the landfills for all those plastic bags you throw out every week.
77-22-2007 @ 5:58PM
Chris White said...
Sure, just like you have the option to throw all your recycling in the garbage... or burry your garbage in the back yard.
87-22-2007 @ 6:11PM
L.A.Zendarski said...
WAY TO GO, Seattle!!!!
We live on a mini farm and all our vegetable waste goes to the chickens, who then make manure, that will eventually be utilized along with the horse manure for a great garden!
Keep up the great work LEFT COAST!!!
97-23-2007 @ 11:03AM
Buy Fresh Seafood Online said...
It is an innovative idea, but I'm not sure how practical it is. Marisa, the worm bin sounds like a fun idea as long as the worms stay where they should.
Fisherman
http://www.allfreshseafood.com/
10If we have the option to recycle and compost, why WOULDN'T we? I agree with Chris. It's not much more expensive/difficult than dealing with regular trash, and it's a small enough project that people could accomplish easily. Wouldn't you rather turn your trash into something that could be USEFUL, rather than letting it go to waste (uh, no pun intended) in a giant trash heap? Or thrown into our oceans?
I don't get it...if projects are too small, people complain about the bigger problems- but if the projects are too BIG, no one does them because they are too time consuming/takes too much effort, etc etc.. I just can't fathom how people can complain about trash and the earth/environment then turn around and proclaim that they are vehemently against DOING anything about it. So frustrating!!
11I don't get it, bdw . . . reducing the waste stream, on a small scale, is suddenly 'uber-righteous?'
This is a type of program that will take material out of the expense-laden landfill-management system, while creating a tangible good (dirt) that the city would otherwise pay for.
People feel good about this sort of legislation because it IS good. Go composting, and go Marisa for bringing it up!
What Can I Get You Folks? - Eating Out for Thanksgiving
In Defense of Guy Fieri
'Top Chef Vegas' - And Then There Were Five
