Composting Citywide

I always thought it would be cool if the cities we lived in picked up our composting right along with the recycling and the trash. Imagine the space it would save us in the landfills! Not only that, but we could replenish our community parks and gardens with usable soil, and create some new city jobs in the process. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Well, apparently I'm not the first person to think so. As it turns out, the City of San Francisco does just that with their newly improved "3-Cart Curbside Recycling Program."

The plan, under Mayor Gavin Newsom, seeks to divert 75% of the city's waste from landfills by the year 2010. More ambitiously, the hope is that by 2020, San Francisco will become 100% waste-free. Perhaps to the naysayer the plan sounds impossible. But consider this: already the city is successfully diverting an astonishing 70% of its waste from the landfills.

How do they do it, you ask? It's actually very simple: they recycle everything and they provide incentives to both private residences and business owners that reward folks who put less in the trash heap.

Under the program, people are given three bins: black for trash, blue for recyclables, and green for compost. The color-coded bins are free and come in a variety of sizes. Residents simply sort their waste into the three bins, and the city makes its pick up. Easy.

So far the program is a success. The city's recycling rate is higher than any other city in the US. Residents are encouraged to recycle a broad range of products that are normally thrown in the trash; city employees later hand sort the items for recycling.

As far as the composting component, everything that is biodegradable waste is accepted. This includes all food scraps - a practice most composters don't even resort to. In addition to food scraps, the green cart is also where San Franciscans toss their food soiled paper products (napkins, paper plates, milk cartons, etc.), and yard-trimmings. This aggressive method of composting has resulted in the city's pick up of over 300 tons of biodegradable waste daily. The compost generated by the city is later sold to Bay Area farms and the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma.

All things considered, the San Francisco should be commended for their composting and waste management program. Part of the goal of this program is to model a citywide composting and recycling program for other cities to emulate.

Given the emphasis and growing trends in green culture, we'll probably be hearing a lot more about citywide recycling and composting programs. If you're inspired to try it yourself, check out some books on composting. Get yourself a compost bin, and give composting a shot on a small scale. If San Francisco's innovating composting program is any indication, we'll probably all be doing it sooner or later!

Composters.com is an online retailer of eco-friendly compost bins, compost tumblers, rain barrel, and other composting supplies.