For composting to be successful, everyone needs to get involved. Methods of involvement include:
Curbside composting
This is ideal because it opens up a convenient way to compost to everyone. But the problem is that people get confused or lazy on sorting their trash so they contaminate their compost piles so the overall quality of curbside composting may not be as high as if you compost, yourself.
Looking for:
- How to effectively and educate people on proper composting practices
- How to encourage people to even care...
School programs
If every school had a composting program, it'd be quite educational and valuable in connecting students to the earth. The primary issue is if students don't take it seriously, and just treat it as another garbage dump.
Interestingly, some schools particularly in the NE USA seem to have adopted this, and I wish it saw adoption at my schools. School or university cafeterias seem like prime candidates for generation of a lot of food scraps, shouldn't those go back into the ground?
Resources I've found on composting guidelines, if not an organized movement to do this:
https://compostingcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Composting-at-School-0307.pdf
http://greenmountainfarmtoschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Guide-to-Staring-a-School-Compost-Program.pdf
http://www.lifelab.org/composting/
Looking for:
- A centralized movement to bring composting to more schools (science education, right?)
- Data on which schools have done this, if they're only in parts of the country, a catalog of their experiences
- A more user friendly introduction to composting at school. I'm finding a lot of long PDF docs and it seems that there must be a better way to present the idea; big PDF's probably won't generate enthusiasm in most people
Restaurant programs
Restaurants likely generate a ton of food scraps. I suppose the problem is that workers are very busy, but still, maybe they'll be open to sorting trash properly if some of them dealt with only food scraps for long periods of time...
This article mostly summarizes (some) restaurants embracing mandatory composting law
https://www.foodabletv.com/blog/2016/2/21/seattles-mandated-composting-program-enlists-restaurants-to-reduce-waste-improve-efficiency-and-enhance-community
Old article (2010) on a small business that collects restaurant food scraps in NH
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127299429
Newer article (2017) on the same idea, east of Seattle
https://425magazine.com/closing-loop-composting/
Looking for:
- More examples
DIY composting
This is the least scalable method, but if individuals are tending their own compost piles, then they'll likely have high quality compost as they're vigilant in not contaminating scraps. Lots of resources exist around here; but I don't think I have the time atm to look into this in depth. Seems fun to do though if I have enough space!
In general, I'm having trouble finding a unified strategy and community to bring composting to the greater mainstream, instead I see efforts scattered around the country; maybe a strong strategy already exists, after all I'm not really in any networks, but it's still cool to read about the individual stories.
So I want to learn more about how people compost, and wonder if farms and gardens are enough of a market for compost, or if there's too much compost and not enough customers
https://compostingcouncil.org/uscc-in-context/ speaks of surveys showing growth of composting
Hi @motordrive! I like your idea of introducing school programs for composting (I would say ecologic education in general). I'm not sure it will ever happen, but it should.
I have a very small garden, but I'm also trying to cultivate every surface possible at home and I had a regular compost bin until a coulpa of years ago. Then I switched to a vermicompost bin which is easier for me as you don't need to mix it periodically and you can keep adding food scraps because the worms eat everything superfast.
It also produce a sort of juice that is very rich in nutrients and you can sprinkle it around
Thanks for stopping by! Good to hear affirmation, I've thought about reaching out to teachers I've had in the past but seems like it'd need commitment and experience to be successful, not quite there yet...
It's awesome how you have a compost bin! Hm that's good to hear about your experience, I'd have thought that the 'juice' was gross and might have tossed it but now I'd be more wise about using it as a fertilizer of sorts haha
Ahah No way, the juice is precious :)
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