Composting Organic Materials in a City |
9 Comments |
| By Matt Mayer in Composting | August 13, 2008 | |
In my city our local waste management group picks up big plastic containers (which I call a Yardy) of yard waste material. This can be branches, leaves, grass clippings, etc. (Unbeknownst to my neighbors, I also pick up yard materials from their yardies, but that’s a different story…) Participation in this program is great, and it keeps all this material out of the land fill. The city mixes all this material together and turns it into compost which they then sell in 40 lb bags, or give away for free for personal use, if you have a truck to load it in. Paper products and kitchen waste can be recycled in our yardies, although almost no one knows that and it never seems to be highlighted.
San Francisco does a similar thing, although this Time article just mentions kitchen waste so I’m not sure about yard waste. I’m sure there are plenty of other cities that also do similar things.
My question is: why? I understand it’s cheaper and better for the world than dumping it in the landfill. But, I would think the cost of maintaining this huge operation could be dramatically lowered by setting up some local neighborhood groups who could manage the waste and then equipping them with composters that they could use. It would seem to me that after the initial cost of set up (which would probably still be way, way less than what I would expect the one large shredding machine costs) that the cost of operation would essentially go to zero. Perhaps you employ a couple of inspectors to make sure that people are doing it, but I wouldn’t expect much ongoing cost.
So why don’t we try it that way? Maybe not enough people are willing to do this work in their neighborhood groups? Or maybe it’s better financially to go through all this effort and then sell the compost? Maybe the waste management group wants to get bigger and grow for their owners? This system should be able to go on forever right? We’ll always be able to drive these trucks around picking up yard waste and processing it with huge diesel powered machines. Right?
I could see this becoming a hot button issue in the future. As our public systems continue to teeter under the stress of their obligations, and the cost of operating large machinery continues to increase, the cost to operate these programs will go up year after year. At some point, this will lead to a cost raise to the consumer and then people will start asking just how valuable a service like this is. I contend that by flipping this composting program on it’s side you can achieve the same result with less cost, less environmental burden, and even provide better service. What do you think? I think I’m going to contact my city council right now to begin discussions on alternatives.
Picture courtesy of NatureMill.
AnnasMom said,
There’s an amusing typo in the last paragraph, second sentence.
Meadowlark said,
In our community they produce the compost then SELL it back to you. I only WISH they gave it away.
Dave said,
The issue comes with consistency. When things are on an even keel, I can stay on top of my lawn, compost pile, and other projects. But in the height of the season, it all goes pear-shaped, because my paying clients get my time. So something like that would really hinge on redundancy of available labor- if I can’t get there this week, then Jeff does, or Bob, or Susan… My guess is that’s the biggest stumbling block. Town leaders have the same worries a parent does when being pressed for a dog- sure, we’re swearing up and down that we’ll walk and clean up after our compost pet, but they feel certain it’ll fall to them eventually. Still, what a cool concept!
Kiashu said,
“So why don’t we try it that way? Maybe not enough people are willing to do this work in their neighborhood groups? “
Yes.
It’s the same reason that we have schools instead of universal homeschooling, or taxes and welfare instead of local charities. If the pan on my stove catches fire, I just put it out. If my whole house catches fire, I call the fire brigade. That is, when I’m unable to deal with something on my own, I call on the resources of the community. Naturally someone in the community says, “we should organise this, so we get the right resources to where they’re needed, when we do it ad hoc some people get all the help and others get none.”
The only questions are when does the community step in? and when does the community have someone step forward to organise it? With both questions, there’s a threshold.
Over time the threshold for having the community step in or having someone organise it has got quite low. Nowadays we can’t even handle a pile of rotting leaves and kitchen scraps.
Just try getting together with a neighbourhood group some time, any kind of voluntary organisation. Work with them for a year or two. Many people hear the word “community” and imagine a very happy-clappy sort of thing where everyone gets along famously; but in fact it’s a very slow and agonising process, a lot of back-and-forth and compromise has to happen, and “community” is actually about finding that someone really pisses you off, but managing to get things done with them anyway.
But most likely after a month or two of being involved with the community group, you’ll be happy to have government or a corporation handle these things for you.
Glenda Greenhouse said,
In the book “Garbage Land” the head of the NYC city-wide composting program (I’m not sure if they still have one) was interviewed and said that he personally thought it was a waste of energy – a big program – a lot of waste but for a good cause. I’m all with you – keep it more local and centralized and help people realize that they can compost no matter where they are or what their circumstance! Really! It might mean being part of (or starting) a co-op, it could even mean a little guerrilla composting or a slight investment in a indoor home system.
best,
glenda
Nathan said,
groovy,
your concept is great as long as you could get one person on every block or so to join in and take over the duties. It would also rely on the other neighbors on the block to join in and deliver the yard waste to the compost site. Space in most yards would not allow for a very large compost pile or bins. There sure would be reduction in energy consumption. Co-op at various spots around a city might be a good compromise.
Anna said,
In NJ, you have to buy the compost as well. I think it is hard to get anyone in a small community to commit to be in charge of composting. I have a little compost pile and I find it hard to make compost. (Then again, that would be mean I would have to put water in it and turn it sometimes….)
brenda lotito said,
It would seem that this would be a great idea, but the truth of the matter is that many people can be curious and excited about composting thier food waste NOW, but they may move, or lose interest in a short period. Even in colleges, where a student has started a composting program, graduates. This is a problem as the school is left with a pile of stuff that only the squirrels, racoons, fox and other wildlife are reaping the benifits of.
Another problem is that composting is not as simple as you think. There are health and safety standards to uphold- you don’t want to put compost (free or not) on your own garden if it is immature or has fecal coliform or salmonella in it, do you? The waste has to get up to certain temps in order to kill those pathogens.
While I’m talking about temperatures, you definately DON’T want to have a fire in your compost pile because you have added too many ingredients that can make it spontaneously combust! Oh yeah, speaking of ingredients…too much of a good thing can be…well..too much…the pile gets too soggy and you will have a big stink on your hands and in your neighborhood..
I agree that people should compost in thier own homes (specifically, I am partial to vermicomposting- its a type A thing), but to take on a neighborhood is too risky for everyone’s health.
Worm Wishes,
Brenda
Composting Queen said,
To a certain extent, isn’t human nature part of the problem? Let me first say that I totally agree that each person ought to step up and be responsible for the waste they produce—we’ve raised way too many generations now with this “throw it away and it’s gone and you don’t have to worry about it” mentality. Now to play Devil’s Advocate… but the reality is, this goes against the grain of our lazy society. If we can pay someone to do something for us (assuming we have the money to pay them), why should we do it ourselves? This is true of all kinds of things, including waste disposal and composting. I just don’t see a large mainstream movement in America of everyone pitching in and composting.