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You can also just keep your own compost heap in your back yard. (Municipal composting? Sounds like a scam where I separate my garbage and the city just throws e

You can also just keep your own compost heap in your back yard. (Municipal composting? Sounds like a scam where I separate my garbage and the city just throws everything into the same landfill anyway.)

AlecSchueler 3y ago
I separate my garbage and then the municipality uses the organic waste to create compost. I've visited the site myself and seen it (my ex worked for recycling company). The compost is then used to feed our shared green spaces, parks and flowerbeds, within the city. I do also have a separate compost heap for my building which we use to feed our community garden. This practice of municipal organic waste connection actually dates back centuries. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, the father of the microscope, worked his day job in gathering organic waste in the locality, and some of his early experiments were based on inspecting this waste via magnification. I understand that the trustworthiness of public governance varies from place to place but I can't imagine why a city would spend time and money on a project like this just to throw everything in a landfill.
- philwelch 3y ago
  A lot of “recycling” ends up in landfills, especially since China stopped accepting it. Some people like separating their garbage because they enjoy the illusion that they’re doing something virtuous, and it’s easier to indulge that fantasy than to actually have multiple waste management streams.
  - AlecSchueler 3y ago
    I'm aware of that, and my municipality also sends some dry recycling abroad. But the green waste we use locally. I've visited the sites and read their annual reports. It makes sense to be critical but there's a certain level of distrust that I wouldn't be personally able to tolerate and still feel happy living here.
    - philwelch 3y ago
      If throwing recyclables or yard waste into the landfill was the worst thing your local government did, you’d have a great local government.
      - AlecSchueler 3y ago
        I feel that I do have a great local government!
da_chicken 3y ago
The cheapest form of municipal composting typically involves yard waste (grass trimmings, fallen leaves, etc.). That all takes a tremendous amount of landfill space, and it's all somewhat uniform and predictable. It's partly why many suburbs have been doing separate yard waste collection for decades. The reason they don't always want food waste is that it attracts animals that eat food waste (crows, seagulls, raccoons, possums, cockroaches, flies, etc.) and the composting is often done in open-air windrow heaps. Composting also works most efficiently when the ratio of carbon and nitrogen is in balance, and food waste is somewhat different than yard waste. It makes it harder to manage to get good compost quickly.
- philwelch 3y ago
  Yard waste I get, although IMO you’re a fool if you just give away your own perfectly good yard waste instead of using it to feed your own yard.
  - da_chicken 3y ago
    The output of extra work is only free if your time has no value.
    - philwelch 3y ago
      It’s not even extra work in most cases. You can just let your lawnmower spit out your lawn clippings back onto your lawn for instance.
      - da_chicken 3y ago
        At least where I've lived (except Arizona where I had no lawn) I've never been able to mulch or leave clippings on the lawn the whole season. Once the grass is actually in growing season, it grows too fast. If the grass is wet, you can't mulch. If you cut twice as often, the thatch doesn't decompose quickly enough. For me it was just more work now so that I could do more work later.

AlecSchueler 3y ago

I separate my garbage and then the municipality uses the organic waste to create compost. I've visited the site myself and seen it (my ex worked for recycling company). The compost is then used to feed our shared green spaces, parks and flowerbeds, within the city. I do also have a separate compost heap for my building which we use to feed our community garden. This practice of municipal organic waste connection actually dates back centuries. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, the father of the microscope, worked his day job in gathering organic waste in the locality, and some of his early experiments were based on inspecting this waste via magnification. I understand that the trustworthiness of public governance varies from place to place but I can't imagine why a city would spend time and money on a project like this just to throw everything in a landfill.

philwelch 3y ago
A lot of “recycling” ends up in landfills, especially since China stopped accepting it. Some people like separating their garbage because they enjoy the illusion that they’re doing something virtuous, and it’s easier to indulge that fantasy than to actually have multiple waste management streams.
- AlecSchueler 3y ago
  I'm aware of that, and my municipality also sends some dry recycling abroad. But the green waste we use locally. I've visited the sites and read their annual reports. It makes sense to be critical but there's a certain level of distrust that I wouldn't be personally able to tolerate and still feel happy living here.
  - philwelch 3y ago
    If throwing recyclables or yard waste into the landfill was the worst thing your local government did, you’d have a great local government.
    - AlecSchueler 3y ago
      I feel that I do have a great local government!

da_chicken 3y ago

The cheapest form of municipal composting typically involves yard waste (grass trimmings, fallen leaves, etc.). That all takes a tremendous amount of landfill space, and it's all somewhat uniform and predictable. It's partly why many suburbs have been doing separate yard waste collection for decades. The reason they don't always want food waste is that it attracts animals that eat food waste (crows, seagulls, raccoons, possums, cockroaches, flies, etc.) and the composting is often done in open-air windrow heaps. Composting also works most efficiently when the ratio of carbon and nitrogen is in balance, and food waste is somewhat different than yard waste. It makes it harder to manage to get good compost quickly.

philwelch 3y ago
Yard waste I get, although IMO you’re a fool if you just give away your own perfectly good yard waste instead of using it to feed your own yard.
- da_chicken 3y ago
  The output of extra work is only free if your time has no value.
  - philwelch 3y ago
    It’s not even extra work in most cases. You can just let your lawnmower spit out your lawn clippings back onto your lawn for instance.
    - da_chicken 3y ago
      At least where I've lived (except Arizona where I had no lawn) I've never been able to mulch or leave clippings on the lawn the whole season. Once the grass is actually in growing season, it grows too fast. If the grass is wet, you can't mulch. If you cut twice as often, the thatch doesn't decompose quickly enough. For me it was just more work now so that I could do more work later.