Food scraps go to work in compost programs
People are bagging up their rotting food scraps and taking them to work or dropping them off at the offices of a coalition of local governments and groups.
Residents of Worthington and employees of the Midohio Regional Planning Commission now have the opportunity to participate in a new composting program.
The home-to-work compost program is just one of many new initiatives that the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio is funding in an effort to divert food waste and “help reduce community reliance on the landfill,” said Hanna Greer-brown, a spokeswoman for SWACO.
Food waste accounts for
13 to 15 percent of the garbage that enters the landfill. By composting, people are “extending the life of the natural resource,” as composted food waste enriches soil as it decomposes, she said.
Food waste can “shorten the life of landfills and lead to the production of potent greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide,” according to a University of Wisconsin study.
When food is composted, more oxygen is present, which means that methane production is minimal and food waste can break down faster.
Here’s how the program works: While cooking or cleaning up after meals, participants collect their food scraps. Whether it’s leftover chicken bits, banana peels or carrot-tops, it all goes into a 5-gallon bucket lined with a compostable bag.
Once a week, the bags can be dropped off by Worthington residents at the city’s service complex at 380 Highland Ave. or by MORPC employees at 11 Liberty St., No. 100, in the Brewery District.
Just a few hours later, Innovative Organics Recycling, a Southeast Side business that specializes in composting, will pick up the waste from the drop-off sites and compost it off-site.
Anything that grows can be composted, including meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables and even paper products. Excessive oils and fats, plastics and animal waste shouldn’t be composted, said Brooke White, a MORPC spokesperson.
By creating a drop-off program, SWACO hopes that people who lack the space to compost on their property might be encouraged to reduce the food waste that goes into their trash.
MORPC launched its composting initiative in January. Although people are still getting used to the home-to-work system, the amount of waste collected is growing, White said.
“The first week, there wasn’t a lot in there, but the next week, there was Tubs were made available in January for the MORPC compost program kick-off training session.
more, (then) the next week, there was more,” she said.
Worthington has a goal of composting at least 83 tons of food scraps this year.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 2 million tons of food waste was composted in 2015. In comparison, more than 30 million tons of food waste went to landfills.
Some states, including Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, require restaurants that generate a large volume of food waste to compost it.
SWACO’S program is working with some Columbus City Schools to reduce the volume. Several school sites will begin composting programs this week, including: Maize Elementary, Ecole Kenwood French Immersion Elementary, Devonshire Elementary, and Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls. Anything served on cafeteria trays, and the tray itself, will be composted.
“Ultimately, (the storage is) not going to be any different from a garbage dumpster,” said Kristi Higginbotham, programs administrator at SWACO.
At Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls on the Near East Side, a student environmental club called the “green team” is responsible for monitoring the program. Members will teach fellow students how to compost and will make sure that compostables are disposed of in the proper bins.
“We’re just really trying to be environmentally friendly,” said Brianna Banaga, a student on the team.