This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
News / City Hall Food Scraps Pilot Program Launches
Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 12:26 PM
2000 homes will get these buckets next week. You can put your coffee filters, bones, donuts, mouldy cheese, scrapings from your dinner plate in there. Whatever! It's all good. The idea is to reduce landfill. It's the mayor's idea. There'll be four trial neighborhoods: One in North, one East of I-205, One in Northeast, and one in Southwest. The program is hoping to move citywide next spring. They're already doing it in Seattle and San Francisco. More importantly, captions!
2
One in Northeast and ANOTHER in Northeast? Yay, 2 chances to be selected for us here in the Northeast.
Shit, now Northeast isn't a real word anymore. It's lost all meaning.
Shit, now Northeast isn't a real word anymore. It's lost all meaning.
3
This is bullshit. They should be doing this in inner-SE as well. Don't the hipsters and Reedies deserve to have the city do their composting for them?
4
Graham, this program needs to be done where people will help with a program set up for them but they aren't going to do it themselves (build & keep a compost pit). non-homeowners not likely to play along. this is going to take lots of education and repeated effort. it's a great idea, one of many that we need.
"Randy: At last. Somewhere to store my manhood."
"Randy: At last. Somewhere to store my manhood."
5
There once was a man named Randy
He visited NE Sandy
And gave them all buckets
and said "landfills: suck it!"
And then went to go party with Mary Volm at Candy
He visited NE Sandy
And gave them all buckets
and said "landfills: suck it!"
And then went to go party with Mary Volm at Candy
7
Do people who compost their own food scraps get a break in any way, shape or form? Why should we subsidize others, yet again?
8
What is this going to cost? Do people who already compost their own food scraps get a break?
(The second question is rhetorical, of course.)
(The second question is rhetorical, of course.)
9
Does this mean there will be buckets of rotting food sitting out in front of thousands of houses? The rats/racoons/possums/squirrels/seagulls will love it!
10
Don't all those things biodegrade quickly anyway? How does it reduce anything? Seems like shuffling of materials that will already compost regardless of where it sits. Anyone know what the benifit of this is?
11
Thanks for the update, Matt. My understanding is that after getting us used to composting our scraps, they will reduce the frequency of garbage pickup, thus reducing flow to landfills.
Me? I've been a worm farmer for over a year, and only get garbage picked up monthly anyway.
Me? I've been a worm farmer for over a year, and only get garbage picked up monthly anyway.
12
Alsace, by reducing the amount of waste in landfills, we all gain. those who choose to compost at home are getting "free" soil amenities; those who put it in a bucket give those resources to the city. while there will be up-front costs, in time a program like this benefits everyone. costs get shared but so do benefits.
14
I get it if the city were collecting, say, scrap wood and using it. Lumber takes a long time to decompose. But table scraps, in a landfill or anywhere else, decompose in a very short period of time, leaving nothing but carbon, or something. I'm sure there's some benifit ofthis program, but I'm not seeing it.
15
@CH: Things in landfills do not decompose; that's the problem. Decomposition requires air and oxygen for the bacteria to break things down. When the food scraps get covered with other trash or left inside plastic bags they do not get the chance to biodegrade and just take up space instead.
17
Also, can I put murdered hookers in my compost bucket? That's an important question that needs answering. Get on it Mercury Intern!
18
tabarnhart: That's some fancy spin you're offering there.
Others: The whines about food scraps being outside are a bit strange, since a lot of people put them in the trash now.
Others: The whines about food scraps being outside are a bit strange, since a lot of people put them in the trash now.
19
First of all, everything is biodegradable because nothing lasts forever.
Secondly, if you think there isn't enough room for landfills you've never driven through North Dakota.
Secondly, if you think there isn't enough room for landfills you've never driven through North Dakota.
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