On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA February-March 2016 | Page 16

SUSTAINABILITY ANNE MARIE VAN NEST What’s next in organic waste management. Is mandatory residential composting coming to your town? Plastic composting bin, Fort Mason Community Garden, San Francisco, California. As cities and municipalities try to control waste removal costs, increase pay-per-throw services and provide alternatives to landfills, composting is attracting greater attention. We’re seeing school lunchroom composting programs in San Francisco, bans on Seattle food waste in the trash and mandatory composting in Lafayette, Colorado. Concerns about mounting food waste are driving this quest for new composting applications. Jennifer Brooks writes in The Blue Review that, in 2012, Americans tossed 20 percent more food into the trash than they did in 2000 and 50 percent more than they did in 1990. Roberto A. Ferdman in The Washington Post reports that Americans throw out more food than plastic, paper, metal and glass. He cites a National Resources Defense Council estimate that “as much as 40 percent of America’s food supply ends up in a dumpster.” Setting aside the larger issue of reducing food waste and improving the management of our food supply, how can garden writers help our audiences manage their organic wastes better? One easy way is to educate non-gardeners about different composting options, guiding them to the method that is right for them and helping them avoid problems that may cause frustration. 16 CHALLENGES Household composting commonly uses small plastic bins with lids and side ventilation – the must-have items for back yard composting during the 1980s and 1990s. The idea of throwing organic refuse in the top and having black gold come out the bottom after just a few months was a romantic notion soon shattered by reality. Compost must be turned to mix the materials, distribute moisture and incorporate oxygen, but these small bins just don’t have enough room for that without taking the bins apart. Even unturned, organic material will decompose eventually – but how long are most people willing to wait? If homeowners are not informed about the need to provide a good balance of materials (carbon and nitrogen, ideally in a 30:1 ratio), they may fill the bin mostly with leaves or grass clippings, causing the pile to decompose very slowly, or the grass clippings to become a steamy, smelly mound of green slime. To overcome some of these challenges, garden writers can highlight larger compost bins that offer a greater chance of success, or offer advice on creating bigger bins made from recycled materials such as pallets, chain link fence, snow fence, hardware cloth or concrete blocks. Three-bin models allow for turning one stage of compost into a neighboring bin for further decomposition.