Several weeks ago at the Tribeca Film Festival, I saw a movie called Wasted: The Story of Food Waste. By the time I walked out of the theater, I had decided to start composting our kitchen waste.
When I got home, I ordered a little countertop composing bin and some compostable plastic liners. I asked neighbors where I could take my compost every day and found that a small community garden nearby accepts compost.
And so I started composting.
Indoor Composting to Dispose of Trash
Every day, we have a small bag of vegetable waste that weighs between three and four pounds. Banana peels, apple cores, lettuce leaves, carrot peelings, coffee grounds and egg shells.
All of this material turns into rich black soil when it is composted in just a few weeks. Put the same material in the land fill it it won’t decompose for decades.
And now for the math. Twelve families live in our building. If each of them has 3 pounds of compostable kitchen waste a day, that’s 36 pounds of compostable material every day and 252 pounds a week and a startling 13,104 pounds every year.
But quantity is only one aspect of composting.
Becoming More Trash-Aware
A couple of weeks after I started composting our kitchen waste, Mark, who handles the trash for the building told me that he had noticed that his trash haul was lighter. With just our little family composting effort.
The more I compost, the more trash-aware I become. I have been looking for products with less packaging. I’ve been carrying my shopping bags with me. And we’ve been eating more fresh, unprocessed food.
Sometimes, when something makes you more aware of a problem and you start addressing it in a personal way, you begin seeing many connected issues. Gradually it changes the way you behave.
Especially now that Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, the onus will be on each of us to do everything we can to live in a way that is kinder to the environment.
We all share the responsibility for the future. Our actions, however small, matter.
ThisBecome More Environmentally Conscious
Do you compost your kitchen waste? Do you unplug your chargers when you aren’t using them? Do you buy items that have less packaging? Might you walk more and drive less?
Pay more attention this week to the way you live and the choices you make. Pick one or two small behaviors you might change that will make you kinder to the environment and more trash-aware.
Share your ideas in the comments below. Or, mosey on over to Facebook and share your ideas there.
