Do you food scrap recycle? What are the opportunities in your county/state?

[kinglouisxiv]

Food scrap recycling is generally a city/county based program where household food waste can be recycled by a municipal agency.

Fortunately, my county, Alameda County in California (pop. ~1.5 million) has been diverting millions of pounds of food waste from the landfill since 1990.

Food scrap recycling is a way in which each person can take responsibility for their contribution to the waste stream and have a positive effect on the environment.

The way it works for me is simple. I keep a medium-sized plastic bowl at the sink. Any food scrap waste is thrown into the bowl and taken outside to the green city yard waste bin.

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Food scrap recycling has changed my life in many ways.

Now that all the food waste is taken separated from my trash can, I have reduced the size of my garbage can and have less smelly trash to in my kitchen.

Food scrap recycling has become second nature to me, and I encourage everyone to try it.

Things I put in the food scrap bin:

*Fruit/Vegetable remains
*Egg shells
*Coffee grounds, soiled paper coffee cups
*Soiled paper anything - paper plates, pizza boxes, takeout
*Uneaten food on plates after meals

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Anyone who has further interest can check out the Environmental Protection Agency's Composting:Beyond Recycling at:

http://beyondrecycling.org/pdf_files/FinalReport.pdf

 

[unknwn]

The college I go to has a few bins so I just throw food in whenever I'm there... pretty cool program

 

[chickencurry4eva]

im in Alameda county and never knew what them green bins were for. I aint been throwing trash away/recycling right since I moved here. Noted. Good looks OP.

 

[mplsdunk]

yeah at work, all the food waste and paper goes in the trash with the compo stable bags then we just throw them in the proper dumpster. my last job had the same set up. before that we fed it to pigs. farmers came and took our waste.

 

[kinglouisxiv]

im in Alameda county and never knew what them green bins were for. I aint been throwing trash away/recycling right since I moved here.

It's really very easy. Brown = landfill. Gray = recyclables. Green = yard/food waste.

You can essentially recycle anything curbside, pick-up, or drop off. From everyday metal and plastics you can stick in your recycling can to designated centers for dropping off old paint cans, batteries, and other toxics that do not belong in the trash can.

Here's a guide where you can look up how and where to recycle various things:

http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=70

before that we fed it to pigs. farmers came and took our waste.

I am interested in this kind of lifestyle.

 

[servechilled81]

I don't think we a have food scrap program

but we have the green bin like the one above

for paper, plastic and glass that goes out every other week,

plus you collect recycle bank points to get magazines, coupons, gift cards etc.

I don't think we're allowed to put yard waste in it either, but they'll pick them up at the curb

if they're in city approved biodegradable bags

 

[mplsdunk]

im in Alameda county and never knew what them green bins were for. I aint been throwing trash away/recycling right since I moved here.

It's really very easy. Brown = landfill. Gray = recyclables. Green = yard/food waste.

You can essentially recycle anything curbside, pick-up, or drop off. From everyday metal and plastics you can stick in your recycling can to designated centers for dropping off old paint cans, batteries, and other toxics that do not belong in the trash can.

Here's a guide where you can look up how and where to recycle various things:

http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=70

before that we fed it to pigs. farmers came and took our waste.

I am interested in this kind of lifestyle.

meh, i think animals we are eating should be fed better than table scraps. especially since they are eating themselves if there is pork on the plate.

 

[tsamshox]

At work, yes.

 

[miamiboy]

What does the scrap food get recycled into?

 

[mplsdunk]

more food.








dirt i'm guessing.

 

[lobotomybeats]

What does the scrap food get recycled into?

White Castle sliders

 

[kinglouisxiv]

What does the scrap food get recycled into?

It gets turned into a fine organic mulch.

Waste Management, the agency Alameda County contracts with, occasionally provides free bags of this rich compost to residents in big bags like you get at the plant nursery. I spread it out on my fruit trees and other shrubs. Good stuff. I think WM actually has started selling it.

 

[BaltimoreLove]

i wouldnt use it... the paper boxes may have toxic dyes on them...

 

[kinglouisxiv]

i wouldnt use it... the paper boxes may have toxic dyes on them...

Is newspaper safe to compost? Are the inks toxic?

Newspaper is safe to compost, but it breaks down quite slowly because of its high lignin content. (Lignin is a substance found in the woody cell walls of plants, and it is highly resistant to decomposition).

Most newspapers today use water or soy-based inks. Although these may contain small amounts of toxic compounds, the trace levels are not of significant toxicological concern. Some caution should still be used with glossy magazines, which sometimes use heavy metal based inks to produce vivid colors.

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/faq.html

 

[zipp 202]

How does this program work in areas with rodent problems. While they'll still be attracted to normal bins, I'd imagine them being more attracted to these scrap bins. Any thoughts?

 

[nycposite]

How does this program work in areas with rodent problems. While they'll still be attracted to normal bins, I'd imagine them being more attracted to these scrap bins. Any thoughts?

I think it would be crazy to have that in NYC ( 5 boroughs ). Rodents would have a field day with them bin.

All my food waste just goes down the food compactor in the sink.

 

[water]

I started doing this a few years ago. 

 

[limonyfresh]

I wish we had this integrated with our waste collection.

 

[kinglouisxiv]

How does this program work in areas with rodent problems. While they'll still be attracted to normal bins, I'd imagine them being more attracted to these scrap bins. Any thoughts?

I'm not sure. I imagine you do everything to minimize rodent infestation first: make sure your garbage area is clean and can lids are secure.

I just dump my trash in the middle of the street like a boss!

Are you from NYC? Manhattan, specifically. I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, and one of the first things that shocked me about NYC was the insane amount of garbage on the streets!

I mainly started this thread because I visited my cousin in Spanish Harlem, and when I had finished consuming this delicious blood orange she had procured from the local farmer's market, there was nowhere to compost it!

I am curious about other major metropolitan areas and how they handle waste management. Seems to me like California has the market on waste stream diversion.