In the past decade, many U.S. communities of different sizes and political leanings have created mostly voluntary composting programs, with mandatory programs concentrated in large cities and a han…
Matt Vasilogambros | Stateline.org
However, the programs can be expensive. They require upfront investments in new bins and compost facilities, as well as in public education efforts to change long-held ideas of what goes in the trashcan. As mandated under a new state law, Claremont requires that residents stop tossing food waste into garbage cans but instead separate it into a different lidded container. That container then is picked up weekly by the city’s waste management and taken to a private composting facility, where the company sells the compost at its discretion, mostly for agriculture.
A San Diego resident disposes eggshells, strawberries and coffee grounds into a city-issued compost bin. California requires food and yard waste composting, banning them from landfills. Last year, California began enacting a law requiring that municipalities set up mandatory curbside organic waste pickup and composting.
Once the state achieves its goal of reducing organic waste disposal by 75% of 2014 levels — down to 5.7 million tons of organic waste per year going to landfills — it will be equivalent to taking 3 million cars off the road, she added. “The state needs to fix this,” Rarick said. “Our commissioners would hope that this program serves as a model for other states or other municipalities in the country, but the first thing you have to do is actually move California down the road of getting to that goal.”
Earlier this year, Olathe, Kansas, a southwestern suburb of Kansas City, rolled out its new composting program, allowing residents to drop off their food and yard waste at a facility in town.
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