FDR said, “A nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself”, and that sentiment has never been more true than today. Right now the production of synthetic fertilizers accounts for approximately 20% of our nations carbon footprint. The incineration and anaerobic decomposition of food waste in landfills attributes to the equivalent of eight million cars worth of green house gas emissions (epa.gov) each year. We are losing immeasurable amounts of nutrients and minerals to landfills each day that should be returned to our soil and food system. To stave off the depletion of our soil, we must recycle our food waste.
Compost collection is a new and innovative solution to our soil predicament that makes it convenient to recycle food waste. About 30% of the United States’ solid waste stream is compostable, and depending on what you buy, you can get that percentage up to nearly 60%. With modern techniques, anything that a human can consume is compostable as well as some things that humans can’t consume, like coffee grounds and filters, egg shells, food soiled napkins, food soiled paper-stuff, and many more.
Companies like The Compost Crew are beginning to offer composting services in the Montgomery County community. The Compost Crew provides an odor proof bin and compostable liners to help keep the process as clean as possible, and performs weekly pickups. The job of the consumer is simply to separate out their compostable waste and leave their bin out for collection. The Compost Crew even gives some of the finished compost back to their customers to use in their gardens! In this way, families can experience the full food cycle as it was intended.
The Compost Crew makes it very easy to try and continue their service. You can try the service out for a month with absolutely no obligation at compostcrew.com/Sign-Up using the discount code “9DOLLARS.” For more information, call (301) 202-4450 or email info@thecompostcrew.com.
——————————————————————————————————
This blog post was written by Ryan Walter, a Co-Founder of The Compost Crew. The Compost Crew is at Pike & Bethesda Central Farm Markets every weekend.
Central Farm Markets 