The idea struck me during a meeting.
While thoughts of waste don’t routinely course through my brain, trash was the subject matter at a meeting of Duke’s Campus Sustainability Committee whose broad focus is to maximize the sustainability of all Duke’s operations. The discussion in this particular meeting centered on how to reduce and eventually eradicate our waste stream.
The thing that really caught my attention was a report on the results of a series of student dumpster dives around campus. After collecting and sorting all the garbage, they found that about three-quarters of Duke‘s so-called non-recyclable trash destined for area landfills was compostable — things like food scraps, napkins, paper towels, etc. Based on calculations from government data [pdf], the national average is closer to 50 percent, but that’s still a lot of compost mostly headed for a landfill.
Trash Talking
You may call it trash or garbage, but the Environmental Protection Agency’s technical term for the stuff we toss into garbage cans and dumpsters is municipal solid waste: “everyday items we use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, paint and batteries.”
The United States throws away some 250 million tons worth of this stuff a year — a hefty MSW number that places us solidly in the No. 1 spot for trash production.
On the bright side, not all the trash we Americans produce [pdf] ends up in landfills. Individually we recycle or compost about 1.5 pounds of the 4.5 pounds the average American produces every day. Nationally, approximately 26 percent of our waste stream is recycled, 12 percent is burned to produce energy and 8 percent is composted. Still, that leaves about 136 million tons piling up in landfills every year.
What to do?
One shining example of waste trimming is San Francisco, who reportedly “diverts 77% of its waste from landfills” and has its sights set on “zero waste” by 2020. Seattle and Los Angeles have also made great strides in shrinking their garbage footprint. Such initiatives (see also here and here) are certainly a move in the right direction.
But what about an approach that goes even further? One that does away with having to sort trash into the recycling box, the compost heap and the trash bin? One that doubles down on composting by moving up the value chain to create a “composting consumer economy.”
Moving Past Post-Consumer Recyclables to Post-Consumer Compost
Right now we send a lot of compostable materials to landfills. If you’ll pardon the pun, that’s a waste. Instead of being treated like trash, compostable items can be converted into organic-rich soil for growing crops.
And that could even help slow climate change. The anaerobic decay that occurs in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that can escape into the atmosphere if a gas-capturing system is not installed. Composting, which is primarily an aerobic process, generates very little methane.
The Latest Bing News on:
Composting
- Delaware is the 10th state to legalize human composting, an alternative funerary practiceon May 17, 2024 at 12:05 pm
Delaware joins a growing list of states allowing human composting as an alternative funerary practice. Here's what to know about how it all went down.
- Recycle Right: A helpful guide for recycling and compostingon May 17, 2024 at 9:56 am
"What does this mean for you? It means that residents and businesses are required to sort and separately collect compostable and recycling separately from trash and subscribe to services for both," ...
- How to start composting and the benefitson May 17, 2024 at 7:55 am
(WHTM) — Composting has many benefits for the environment and for your own garden. Composting is the process of allowing organic materials to decompose to be reused in soil. Compost can be made ...
- How to get started with composting, and the surprising things you can throw inon May 16, 2024 at 9:02 pm
In a worm farm during a warm season, a cotton T-shirt can take just three to four weeks to break down in your backyard compost.
- Food Waste Composting Isn't Hardon May 16, 2024 at 9:01 pm
That food scraps compose 30 percent or more of residential, curbside trash tonnage is a surprise to nearly everyone on hearing this for the first time.
- City cuts funding for community composting organizationson May 16, 2024 at 7:30 am
City Department of Sanitation officials tell NY1 that although November's budget cuts ended the city composting funding through nonprofit organizations, the city operates curbside composting through ...
- Why Dry-Aged Fat and Composting Are Key to the Menu Margaret’son May 16, 2024 at 7:08 am
Eater Dallas sat down with executive chef Jonah Friedmann to talk about how Margaret’s and the JW Marriott brand have integrated sustainable practices into its food program. Eater: Tell me about the ...
- How does a composting toilet work? Ditch the flush.on May 15, 2024 at 4:02 am
Everything you need to know about the flush-free alternative. By Debbie Wolfe | Published May 15, 2024 7:02 AM EDT Composting toilets are gaining popularity for a good reason—they are ...
- How does a composting toilet work? Ditch the flush.on May 15, 2024 at 4:02 am
Use of the Toilet: Solid waste and liquid are deposited into the toilet. The urine separator then diverts urine away from the solid waste, directing it into a separate container or an external leach ...
- R.I. school composting law has no teeth. These students stopped gritting theirs and took action.on May 13, 2024 at 2:30 am
We see natural disasters and human-led ones on the news and witness how world hunger and a lack of clean drinking water plague and decimate communities worldwide. But we are only high school students, ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Composting
[google_news title=”” keyword=”composting” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”] [/vc_column_text]The Latest Bing News on:
Non-recyclable trash
- Attero plans to invest over Rs 8,000 crore in 5 years to ramp up e-waste, battery recycling capacityon May 19, 2024 at 12:32 pm
NEW DELHI: Electronic waste and battery recycling company Attero plans to invest around Rs ... equity and sort of other non-diluted forms of capital," Gupta told PTI. He said that the company is ...
- Attero to invest over Rs 8,000 cr to ramp up e-waste recycling capacityon May 19, 2024 at 6:44 am
Electronic waste and battery recycling company Attero plans to invest around Rs 8,300 crore in the next five years to ramp up its capacity, the company's CEO and Co-Founder Nitin Gupta said.
- Waste and recycling bag tag exemption week is back in Georgina May 21-24on May 18, 2024 at 5:00 pm
For the week of May 21 to 24, Georgina residents can put out up to five waste and recycling items without tags, the town said. This includes large items such as a couch, but it does not include white ...
- NYS legislation would shift the onus of recycling packaging to businesseson May 18, 2024 at 5:03 am
The proposal would improve recycling infrastructure, reduce toxins in packaging and shift the onus and cost of recycling to manufacturers.
- Antfarm from Amsterdam Secures €200k to Revolutionize Waste Recycling Using Robotics and AIon May 17, 2024 at 11:31 am
Antfarm, a startup based in Amsterdam, whose objective is to deal with the waste problem on a global scale, has accomplished a noteworthy landmark in its work. The startup has bagged a €200. 000 ...
- Why you might be recycling all wrong — and how to do it like a proon May 16, 2024 at 7:00 am
“Good intentions – ‘wishcycling’ – contributes to the problem of non-recyclable material being mixed in with recycling,” she says. “People are keen to do their bit, but end up throwing things in their ...
- Central Park introduces new pizza box recycling bin to curb ratson May 15, 2024 at 9:47 am
New Yorkers eat a lot of pizza. They eat so much pizza that the dish warrants its own recycling bin. Ahead of the summer season, Central Park now has a pizza box recycling bin in a busy area adjacent ...
- Electronic waste recycling now available at four York County Goodwill locationson May 13, 2024 at 1:00 am
The program will ensure that when electronic devices dropped off are broken or at the end of their life, Goodwill Keystone Area will recycle them.
- San Jose enlisting the help of its residents to improve recycling rateson May 9, 2024 at 7:03 pm
Most recyclables are ending up in landfills but one Bay Area city is hoping to remedy that situation with the help of its community.
- How Politics And Litigation Impede Innovation In Plastics Recyclingon May 9, 2024 at 5:21 am
Plastics recycling has long been one of society's most intractable problems. A planned new set of court actions seems set to only delay real solutions.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Non-recyclable trash
[google_news title=”” keyword=”non-recyclable trash” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]