Composting

COMPOSTING

Composting plays a major role in shrinking a person’s carbon footprint. Nearly half of all solid waste is organic and biodegradable, yet much of it ends up in a landfill where it decomposes and produces methane, which is up to 34 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a century. Diverting organic waste to compost is far better for the environment: the composting process converts organic material into stable soil carbon, resulting in carbon sequestration. And by avoiding the landfill, it decreases the production of methane gas. Composting could reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills and incinerators in the U.S. by at least 30 percent.

A growing number of cities, towns, and states are seeing the benefits — municipal  composting programs are up 65 percent in the last six years. San Francisco has led the way, making composting the city’s waste mandatory in 2009; they have since reduced the amount of trash sent to landfills by 80 percent and compost 255,500 tons of organic material each year

Businesses also are producing compostable solutions. Seattle grocer PCC is making all of its deli packaging compostable by 2022, including white foam trays and clear plastic clamshells. A compostable plastic wrap made from shellfish shells that is biodegradable and antimicrobial is in the works. 

Composting can be done at your house or apartment, find tips on getting started here.

CREDIT: ILSR

The following comes from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org), a national nonprofit organization working to strengthen local economies, and redirect waste into local recycling, composting, and reuse industries. It is reprinted here with permission.

CURRENT NEWS

Do Not Allow Even One Fruit Fly Into Your Kitchen Compost

By Katherine J. Wu 04/19/23
Collecting food scraps in your kitchen can invite insect invaders. But there are plenty of ways to outsmart them. Last week, as my spouse and I were settling into our new home, we were dismayed…
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Strategies for Winter Composting

By Sarah Lozanova 01/05/23
If you live in a cold climate, the metabolic activity in your backyard compost will inevitably slow down in the winter. Bacteria and fungi break down your organic matter, but they will be much less…
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Queens curbside organics pilot diverts 1 million pounds of waste in just two weeks

By Ben Brachfeld 10/19/22
The city’s universal curbside organics collection pilot in Queens has yielded more than 1 million pounds of food and yard waste in just two weeks of operation, diverting the refuse from landfills to instead be…
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Food waste solutions

By Clare Toeniskoetter 10/14/22
I recently hosted a backyard barbecue at my apartment in Brooklyn. I put out three containers for waste: A trash can, a recycling bin and a compost bin. As my friends helped me clean up…
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Greener Shopping: The Lomi Home Composter Is a Difference Maker

By Mitch Ratcliffe 09/28/22
The Lomi home composter from Pela has caught a lot of attention with extensive marketing on social networks. More than 100,000 have sold to date, according to Pela. We spent two months working with this…
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How to Start Composting

By Anna Perling 09/10/22
“How do I compost?” might sound like a simple question, but the answers can branch out and multiply like the running roots of a plant. To help break it all down for those just starting…
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Composting in NYC is hard. Cyclists and a pug named Rocky are helping.

By Meghan McDonough and Others 08/10/22
Lillian Summers grows rosemary, daikon and curly kale in a formerly abandoned lot in Bedford-Stuyvesant, powered by recycled food waste. By chopping up a balance of nitrogen-rich kitchen scraps, or “greens,” and carbon-rich materials like…
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California Gears Up for a New Composting Law to Cut Methane Emissions and Enrich Soil

By Grace Van Deelen 06/01/22
Local governments will make compost more accessible for farmers, helping them retain water and fight drought. But it’s not clear that cities and private waste management companies can keep up with all of the green…
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The Unlikely Ascent of New York’s Compost Champion

By Cara Buckley 05/15/22
There were good reasons Domingo Morales, a city kid from the Bronx, didn’t want to try his hand at urban farming. He was terrified of germs. He thought vegetables were disgusting. Plus, everyone knows the…
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Hundreds of US Cities Composting Their Food Waste Helps Farmers and Cuts Tons of Emissions

By Good News Network 05/01/22
Last week, new water restrictions issued for millions of residents of Southern California highlighted the need to make agriculture more efficient—and a new statewide composting mandate is providing the solution.
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Everything you need to know about composting

03/21/22
If you have a yard, you can compost easily. If you don’t, you can still compost in a small designated space. In California, you might hear people talking about composting more frequently. Why? Because a…
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With composting, Californians can take climate change into their own hands

By James Rainey 03/16/22
Sometimes she’d just toss a bell pepper into the bushes, figuring it would decompose and feed the greenery. But that wasn’t a comprehensive solution. Then she tried washing unused veggies down the drain, knowing they’d…
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KEY RESOURCES

Home Composting Basics

08/16/21
Compost  is a dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling material produced by the natural decomposition of organic materials like leaves, garden trimmings, and food scraps. During the composting process, bacteria, fungi, and other microbes feed on the organic…

15 DIY Compost Bin Plans

07/06/21
If you're looking for a way to get rich soil for your garden while sustainably getting rid of food waste, consider a DIY compost bin. Building your own compost bin is a great budget-saving alternative…

Should I compost or recycle

04/22/20
Many food service products can be composted or recycled. At restaurants, posters and signage show you what to compost and what to recycle. At home, use this flyer to check your items against the requirements.

BioCycle the organics recycling authority

03/28/20
Published since 1960, BioCycle is the go-to resource on composting, organics recycling, anaerobic digestion and renewable energy.

Reducing the Impact of Wasted Food by Feeding the Soil and Composting

02/18/20
Composting is the fifth tier of EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy. Even when all actions have been taken to use your wasted food, certain inedible parts will still remain and can be turned into compost to…

US Composting Council

02/18/20
The US Composting Council advances compost manufacturing, compost utilization, and organics recycling to benefit our members, society, and the environment.

Solutions for Apartment Dwellers: Bokashi Composting

02/08/17
At least 60 percent of the U.S. population lives in multifamily homes like apartments, which can make composting more difficult. When you don’t have a backyard to toss your scraps, where do they go? Fortunately,…

Community Composting Resources

02/18/20
Through our research, networks, and resources, we are documenting the viability of community-scale composting and meeting the need for training, guidance on best management practices, business models, and navigating legal and policy hurdles.

MORE NEWS

Help save the world by composting your kitchen scraps. Here’s how

By Jeanette Marantos   01/28/22  
The howls on social media have been fierce since the state started mandating that food waste stay out of garbage destined for the landfill. But here’s a confession from a longtime composter: Putting food waste…
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Don’t have a yard? Here are 3 good options for composting in small spaces

By Jeanette Marantos   01/28/22  
So you know food waste should stay out of the landfill for the good of us all, but what if your jurisdiction doesn’t have a program in place yet, and you don’t have space for…
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The climate solution in California’s compost and crops

By Justine Calma   01/26/22  
Scaling up composting, tree-planting, and other sustainable agricultural practices in California could trap about a quarter of the state’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, according to a new report. These strategies for drawing down…
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What to Know About California’s New Composting Law

By Molly Taft   01/05/22  
California kicked off 2022 by implementing a landmark composting law. Starting this month, everyone in the state is required to start composting food scraps and other materials in an effort to slash methane emissions. It’s…
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California’s new composting law starts Jan. 1. How to recycle your food scraps

By Karen Garcia   12/30/21  
Starting Jan. 1, instead of throwing that container of fuzzy strawberries into the trash, a new law will require Californians to recycle their food scraps and other leftovers.
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Nonprofit makes composting as fun as smashing pumpkins

By YCC Team   10/29/21  
Halloween is a time for playful frights. But a few days later, there’s another chilling sight: people’s garbage bins overflowing with pumpkins.
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The Best Compost Bins, According to Wirecutter Staff

By Anna Perling   08/27/21  
The more I learn about composting, the more I think of the song “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” by Yusuf / Cat Stevens: “Cause there’s a million ways to go.” Aboveground or…
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Electric Composters: Sustainability Win or Another Unnecessary Appliance?

By Forrest Brown   08/26/21  
As more people start composting to reduce food waste, some companies see a business opportunity. From the release of Whirlpool’s Zera Food Recycler in 2017 to the launch of Lomi by Pela earlier this year, electric composters could be…
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🗑️ Composting: Turning Trash into Treasure

By Kevin Silverman   07/23/21  
Policy: Composting is an ancient practice, mentioned twice in Cato’s On Agriculture, that has been used for millennia in different forms to turn organic waste materials into a rich fertilizer instead of letting organic waste rot away…
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PEW

Waste Not? Some States Are Sending Less Food to Landfills

By Elaine S. Povich   07/09/21  
Tons of leftover food sits piled up in Brooklyn, New York, before being processed into "bio-slurry" that is turned into methane gas used for power. New York is one of eight states that have enacted…
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Biodegradable vs. Compostable: What’s the Difference?

By Kiah Treece   05/12/21  
The terms "biodegradable" and "compostable" are everywhere, but they're often used interchangeably, incorrectly, or misleadingly – adding a layer of uncertainty for anyone trying to shop sustainably. In order to make truly planet-friendly choices, it's…
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Is Your Compost Really Compost?

By Andrew Messinger   03/01/21  
Composting for my western neighbor involves putting the fallen fall leaves into a big pile near the back of the garage. Twigs and branches get added as they are collected from the landscape. Whenever the…
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Biodegradable vs. Compostable: What’s the Difference?

By Kiah Treece   02/01/21  
The terms "biodegradable" and "compostable" are everywhere, but they're often used interchangeably, incorrectly, or misleadingly – adding a layer of uncertainty for anyone trying to shop sustainably.
Read more

Residents Fight to Keep Composting From Getting Trashed in New York City’s Covid-19 Budget Cuts

By Ilana Cohen   06/12/20  
The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) temporarily suspended its collection of curbside composting on May 4. Although the program is set to resume on June 30, 2021, many city residents and elected officials…
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The Compost by My Couch: How (and Why) I Started an Odorless Bin at Home

By Hiroko Tabuchi   05/08/20  
New Yorkers have been through a lot over the last couple of months, but this felt personal: The city stopped picking up curbside compost this week and asked residents to instead discard their food scraps…
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Top 10 Composting Trends In 2020

By Nora Goldstein & Craig Coker   03/26/20  
At the end of 2019, BioCycle editors contacted national and regional composting stakeholders to ask about the 2 most important trends that influenced the composting industry in their region, or nationwide, in 2019 — and…
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Of Capped Landfills and Contamination

By Christopher Walsh   02/06/20  
A team of environmental science consultants told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday that groundwater contamination beneath the now-capped Springs-Fireplace Road landfill is slowly diminishing, as expected. However, as the board noted, ongoing testing…
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Composting For Climate Change: More Important Than You Might Think

By Andrea Bertoli   01/28/20  
We extensively cover electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels here at team CleanTechnica – these high-tech renewable technologies are moving us to a world beyond fossil fuels. This truly can’t come fast enough. And…
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Three Myths about Compost Worm Farming

By Liz Beavis   01/22/20  
When I started growing my own vegetables, I knew that I wanted to use organic gardening methods. And the best way to fertilise is to make your own compost. This has the added benefit of…
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The 8 best compost bins

By Karen Iorio Adelson and Liza Corsillo   01/21/20  
You’ve ditched plastic straws for metal ones, stocked up on reusable food containers, and swapped out your old cleaning products for organic alternatives. The next logical step in your eco-warrior journey is taking on composting.
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California Becomes First State To Mandate Universal Composting Services For Residents And Businesses

01/21/20  
Three years after California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy (SB 1383, Lara) was signed into law, formal regulations were adopted by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) at a public meeting today…
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Composting in LA isn’t as easy as it sounds

Hosted by Steve Chiotakis   01/15/20  
Venice Blvd. consists mainly of small storefronts and apartment complexes, but on one corner, next to the fire station, a large garden interrupts the buildings crammed together. The plants there are grown with the help…
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Is NYC Actually Recycling and Composting Its Waste?

By Brian Lehrer   01/13/20  
Each year, businesses and homes in New York City generate millions of tons of trash. Danielle Muoio, City Hall reporter for POLITICO New York, breaks down her reporting on how little waste ends up getting…
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You Should Be Composting in Your Apartment. Here’s How.

By Abigail Weinberg   12/31/19  
Keeping a pile of worms inside your home isn’t as gross as it sounds.
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Area looking toward composting to reduce carbon footprint

By Charlotte Rene Woods   12/16/19  
What would the future of composting look like in the region? Local stakeholders and an out-of-state company are trying to figure that out.
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City composting pilot to make good use of Philadelphians’ food waste

By Katherine Rapin   11/21/19  
Keeping a pile of worms inside your home isn’t as gross as it sounds.
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The U.S. military is using destroyed, classified documents for compost

By Jessica Fu   10/04/19  
The soil on American military bases is about to get healthier. That’s thanks in part to new research on the benefits of a very unique kind of compost: finely shredded government documents.
Read more

Madison, Wisconsin declares curbside organics pilot a success

By Max Witynsk   09/30/19  
Madison, Wisconsin's recent curbside organics collection pilot was deemed a success, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The resurrected program collected 4.07 tons of material from 165 households during an eight-week pilot.
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What does it take to go compostable? Seattle grocer PCC is finding out

By Krishna Thakker   08/28/19  
The trend-setting company plans to make all of its deli packaging compostable within three years, but has found out getting there isn't easy.
Read more

De Blasio’s Zero Waste Plan Languishes With Composting Expansion On Hold, Critics Say

By Gwynne Hogan   06/25/19  
At an Earth Day press conference four years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged New York City would send zero waste to landfills by 2030, in part by scaling up an aggressive composting program to turn food…
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Composting Vermont: One year until food scraps aren’t allowed in garbage

By Kate Barcellos   06/21/19  
A year from now, Vermonters will need to find a new place for their peels: Food waste will be banned from disposal starting July 1, 2020, the final step in an eight-year plan toward sending…
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UNA-SF World Environment Day 2019: Robert Reed on Zero Waste San Francisco

06/10/19  
Robert Reed describes how Recology is partnering with local government and its citizens to bring about the vision of Zero Waste.
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If You Throw a Compostable Cup in the Trash, Does It Still Break Down?

By Ashley P. Taylor   09/17/18  
Compostable products are all the rage these days. But what happens to these items — including compostable straws and silverware — when they're thrown into a landfill instead of a compost heap?
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Compost Critters: Vermicomposting Made Easy

By Tori Wilson   02/20/15  
Vermicomposting, or worm composting, is like composting on steroids. The technique is the use of worms to convert your kitchen scraps and other organic wastes into compost.
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The Science of Composting

By Andrew   08/18/10  
When it’s trash night at your household, individuals perform the weekly ritual of disposing the garbage and compiling all the recyclables in an effort to keep the home clean while helping the planet prosper. Unfortunately,…
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CuanTec’s compostable plastic wrap is made of shellfish shells

By Adele Peters   08/12/19  
The plastic films CuanTec makes out of shellfish shells that are left over from seafood production is naturally antimicrobial and lets people keep using plastic wrap without worrying about plastic.
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Want a cleaner kitchen and a cleaner world? Get a composter for your food scraps

By Julie Compton   07/29/19  
Composting plant-based food waste is an easy way to keep your kitchen smell free while reducing your impact on climate.
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Compost: Secret Weapon Against Climate Change?

By Sarah West   09/20/18  
Fossil fuels can only release carbon into the atmosphere, but soil – and the vegetation that covers it – is a two-way street. Through photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide, storing it in their roots and…
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Fighting Climate Change With Food Scraps: Why Composting Is Easier Than Ever

By Sarah Baird   03/26/18  
No matter where you are in your eco-friendly ascent, there’s room in the mix for composting.
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