Composting

What's keeping you from composting? Is it too stinky? Does it attract fruit flies in your kitchen? Or does it just seem too difficult to bother with? Whatever your excuse is, these tips will help dispel your fears or bad experiences with composting so you can feel good about filling the green bin.

1. Get rid of the stink and flies: While there are some airtight compost bins with charcoal lids that help prevent smells from getting out, here's a guaranteed stink-proof method. Place all the food scraps in a compostable green bag and store it in the freezer until the bag is full.
2. Stop trashing your food: The compost bin can be the new home of all of your food scraps including vegetables, eggshells, coffee grinds, meat, bones, and leftover cooked food. Just remember to remove any stickers, plastic, or foil from the food.
3. Toss the packaging: If it's made of wood, paper, or compostable plastic, then it belongs in the compost bin. If it came from the ground, it's compostable, so even greasy pizza boxes can go in there. (Plastics labeled "biodegradable" are not compostable.)
4. Research where you can compost: If you have access to a backyard, set up your own composter or reach out to the city for a green compost collection bin. If you live in a large city, see if your apartment building has a green bin or ask your landlord to request one. Otherwise, most farmers markets will have a compost drop-off for you to contribute to each week.
5. See the amazing results: If you compost and recycle regularly, you'll soon notice that you barely have any trash — I toss one bag of trash a week, if not once a month. Thanks to composting, the days of stinky trash are gone, as my trash bin only holds nonrecyclable packaging, plastic wrappers, and bags.

What are your tips for smarter composting?

We recently got a compost bin for the office kitchen, complete with a little seminar on how to compost. I thought I knew everything about this green activity, but turns out, I learned a few things! Here are five interesting facts you might not know about composting.

1. Many items that cannot be recycled can be composted. This includes soiled paper and cardboard, such as pizza boxes and wet paper plates, and waxed cardboard like to-go coffee cups and milk cartons.
2. If something can be recycled or composted (such as newspaper or unsoiled cardboard), recycle it. This prevents excess chemicals, such as inks, from getting into your compost.
3. Wondering if something can be composted? Follow the "anything that used to be alive" rule, which includes animal bones, eggshells, and dairy products.
4. But remember, curbside recycling is more versatile than garden composting. Though compostable, animal bones and dairy products will stink up your garden and attract rodents.
5. "Biodegradable" does not equal "compostable." Just because something is labeled biodegradable, such as certain plastic cutlery and diapers, doesn't mean it can be composted.

Stay tuned for more on what can and cannot be composted as we continue this eco-minded month.

Beginning today, the city of San Francisco will require both businesses and residences to compost food scraps and biodegradable products or risk a fine for not properly sorting their garbage. While other cities require recycling service and participation, the law, which Mayor Gavin Newsom signed into effect in June, is the first nationwide to require the collection of food scraps and other compostables.

A study by the Department of the Environment found that 36 percent of what San Francisco sends to landfills is compostable, primarily food scraps, and 31 percent is recyclable — which is mostly paper. Seeing that SF already has an impressive 72 percent recycling rate, the legislation could send that rate soaring to 90 percent.

To facilitate the program, the city will offer free green compost carts to apartment buildings and businesses, as well as free kitchen pails for renters. Fines will be capped at $100 and are meant primarily to raise public awareness and encourage compliance. Has your city or town made any moves to require composting? Has your city had success with any recycling fines or mandates? Tell me by commenting below!

Source: Flickr User MayorGavinNewsom

If you haven't jumped on the composting bandwagon yet, now might be a good time to start: composting is slowly but surely being written into the law. Last week, San Francisco, CA, became the first US city to pass a bill requiring mandatory recycling of food scraps. The legislation, which takes effect this Fall, asks all of the city's residents and businesses — including restaurants — to compost food scraps. Although a number of dwellers and establishments have voluntarily composted over the years, it is now obligatory.

Under the new rules, companies and city residents could face $500 fines if their garbage isn't organized into recyclable, trash, and compostable categories. Since I don't have a compost pail yet, it's high time that I invest in one. Although it's an extra step when taking out the trash, I'm glad to hear that the local government is being more environmentally conscious — and I hope other cities soon follow suit. How would you feel about mandatory composting in your neighborhood?