Composting education has traditionally revolved around the backyard compost pile, however, backyard composting isn’t accessible to everyone. Whether you have your own private backyard, live in a second floor apartment or would prefer to pass the food scraps off to someone else, options to recycle your food scraps are growing. Beyond traditional backyard composting, there is vermicomposting, food scraps drop-off spots and residential food scraps collection services.
Home compost bins
Home Composting: Making compost takes some care; add greens, browns, water, and air.
With fall leaves coming, this is a great time of year to start composting at home. Fruit and vegetable peels and skins, other food scraps and leaves can be a resource instead of a waste. Through composting we can save these resources from going to landfill or incineration and recycle them into compost to enrich our soils. Compost supplies our soils with organic matter and nutrients, helps to capture and retain water in the soil, and provides beneficial microorganisms to enliven plant roots.
Learn more about home composting options and watch composting specialist, Gary Feinland, talk through some of the common problems people experience with their backyard compost pile and how to fix them at www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=655864755260656
Dumping food scraps into a larger bin
Residential food scraps collection services and community food scraps drop-off spots are a great way to compost your food scraps locally if you can’t at home. Residential food scraps collection services pick up food scraps at your curb, while community food scraps drop-off spots allow you to drop your food scraps off at a designated location and time, such as your local farmers market or community garden. In return, the compost from these programs is used to build local healthy soils. Find a food scraps drop-off spot or residential food scraps collection service near you www.nysar3.org/page/nys-food-scraps-drop-off--collection-programs-178.html
