Last week, after walking the dogs, I noticed only 2 garbage bags out in front of our house ready for pickup. In the recent past, my blood would have started a slow boil as I imagined my husband, the garbage-taker-outer, overlooking or disregarding overflowing garbage bins full of garbage bags that needed to be taken out today.
But wait. What?! Only 2 bags? Yep. What changed? We enrolled in Bennett Compost's Residential compost pickup program. $15 a month for weekly pickup. We even signed up at the salon and spa.
According to Bennett Compost's website, the average person throws away 1600 pounds of garbage each year. Whereas the average Bennett Compost customer throws away less than half that. "Our weekly pick-up of food scraps and other compostable material helps you to reduce your impact." This explains the 2 bags of trash, not bad for a family of 4. My goal? Half the trash this year either by recycling or by composting.
And you better get on this composting bandwagon fast. San Francisco already converts over 400 tons of food scraps and other compostable discards into high-grade organic compost every day. The compost then becomes a valuable commodity in sustainable agriculture in that region. Regs may go into effect that would levy mandatory composting, just like recycling in other cities. Failure to compost could lead to fines.
"But," you say "we have a garbage disposal so...." Here's what you put in your Bennett bucket that you can't put down the drain: citrus peels, coffee grounds and unbleached filters (this alone used to make a full bag of garbage in our house), corncobs, flowers, dead houseplants, nut shells! and more....
Do it now! Get into the habit before you are forced to do so.
Inspire your neighbors, teach your kids and co-workers that this is the next very important step. Get into the habit before you are forced to do so.
we have been using Bennett compost since the fall, and have been so happy with them! We were throwing away so much more before we signed up for this service. And seriously...can you beat $15.00 a month? Love them!
Posted by: Brooke | 03/01/2011 at 09:45 AM
Thanks for this comment Brooke! They're picking up my bucket today - and it's chock full o' goodies!
Posted by: Julie | 03/01/2011 at 10:34 AM
I have never been partly cooking for me... www.vivamagonline.com But ur garbages are tempting to cook various items for my hubby.. I think its really worth,Cant believe that people will throw 1600 pounds of garbage each year..
Posted by: Food Recipes | 03/01/2011 at 10:44 PM
Thanks for the suggestion! I have been really resisting composting but this seems easy. And who knew you could compost dryer lint?!
Posted by: Anne | 03/08/2011 at 11:07 AM
Good for you and your family on composting as much as you can. Fortunately for us SFcans, we don't have to pay to have our composts be picked up. The city provides a green bin and we just throw our leftovers and anything compostable and the city truck picks it up weekly.
Posted by: Rose | 04/27/2011 at 11:43 AM
I've been composting for a few years now and I think it's such a great way to reduce the amount of trash we dump in landfills. I wish every city takes up on this composting program.
Posted by: Kristy | 04/27/2011 at 11:48 AM
this scheme needs rolling out through all the Urban areas - so much waste could be put to great use!
Posted by: mikemayos | 05/05/2011 at 11:19 AM