According to the Community Compost Company, 66% of all waste in landfills is organic material, 25-30% of which is food waste. That means that 66% of all waste is sitting uselessly in landfills when it can be returned to the earth through composting. As city dwellers who throw away plenty of food, we have the potential to make landfills 25-33% lighter. This is surely easier said than done, but the Community Compost Company is a good way to start in order to realize this.
Compost is broken down organic material such as food scraps, leaves and lawn trimmings which decompose to create a stable nutrient rich material called humus. This can be an amendment to soil or a medium to grow plants with, thus making it a crucial element of organic farming, as it eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, as well as reducing water and pesticide use.
Being in an urban setting, very few of us actually have any use for compost personally, but that is all the more reason to help organic farms that need the compost. A good majority of our garbage consists of food scraps, so if that is going toward compost, imagine how much less garbage you will be accumulating. Community Compost Company gives you the tools to do just that by providing you with a separate waste basket, a 5 gallon bucket, and pick up/drop off services.
In addition to residential services, Community Compost Company also provides compost pickup services for restaurants and schools. Restaurant and schools especially accumulate a great deal of food waste which would have a positive impact through composting. All those unfinished meals from picky children or overly satiated adults would now have a purpose and new life as organic material for future produce.
Community Compost Company does require a nominal monthly fee for participation which considering that they are doing most of the work—providing receptacles and picking up compost weekly to deliver to farms—it is worth it for the sake of assisting organic farms and reducing one’s carbon footprint. The less garbage you have, the less goes to landfills, and the more you contribute to sustainable practices that better the earth. It may seem like a drop in the bucket, but all great ideas start that way.
Community Compost Company currently services New Paltz, NY and Hoboken, NJ, looking to expand throughout the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey. Call them at 845.787.3478 for more info.
