Saturday, April 4, 2009

Curbside Compost

As we enter the age of Yes We Can, with a new president at the helm who actually wants to know what the American people think, I can't think of a better time for New Yorkers to start contacting their congressmen and women and request New York City begin to lay the groundwork for a curbside composting program.

San Francisco sets an amazing example. About 2,000 restaurants, 2,080 apartment buildings, and 50,000 single-family homes participate in curbside composting, in which food scraps are simply placed in a special bin alongside garbage and recycling bins. Their food scraps are collected and turned into compost for local framers which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

In one year, 105,000 tons of food scraps and yard trimmings get turned into 20,000 tons of compost for 10,000 acres. And here is the truly amazing part: the farmers sell the resulting crops back to Bay area markets and restaurants, making a full circle of food returning to food!

Remember, the more waste we keep out of landfills, the more methane we keep out of the atmosphere and the water supply.

Read more about San Francisco's composting program.

Click here for a list of New York's senators and representatives.

Learn more about NYC composting.

Learn more about the Lower East Side Ecology Center

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