Food waste is a huge contributor to global warming and the climate crisis. When food ends up in landfills it produces and releases methane gas into the air. This greenhouse gas traps heat and is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And it turns out that personal household food waste accounts for half of all food waste that ends up in landfills in the United States. Fortunately, there is an easy way for us all to make a difference—by composting!
Personal Perks of Composting
It’s Guilt-Free!
With little kids, as you probably know, there can be quite a lot of food that goes uneaten. Instead of feeling frustrated or guilty about wasted food, I can feel good about putting that food back into the life cycle, so it can be turned into compost that will be used to support living organisms and help grow more food!
It’s Fun!
It has been so fun to see how little waste our household actually creates now that we compost. It’s almost like a game! It now takes our family almost two weeks to fill a single 13-gallon trash bag. When we hosted Thanksgiving for 25 people, we actually managed to do so without creating any waste. This was thanks to composting, recycling, cloth linens, and ample silverware and flatware.
It’s Educational!
Composting has also been a great opportunity to have conversations with my children about how we dispose of various waste; including the difference between composting, trash, and recycling. It’s also a great way to model being good stewards of the earth for our kids, who are growing up in the midst of the climate crisis and whose own personal actions will ultimately impact the future of their environment and their health.
We Compost Using Black Earth
Many composting enthusiasts have a backyard compost bin or pile. Luckily for those of us in Central Mass who don’t have the space, time, energy, or knowledge to manage our own food waste, there is an easy and affordable solution! Black Earth Compost is a company that serves nearly all of central and eastern Massachusetts, plus parts of New Hampshire and Rhode Island. For about $20 a month, they will pick up all of your food waste, including meat and bones, which typically cannot go in a backyard compost pile. Here is a whole list of what they take!
To get started, you simply purchase one of their green Black Earth bins, which they will drop off outside your house, along with a ton of compostable liners. You can choose either a 4-gallon bin, recommended for apartments, or a 13-gallon bin, recommended for single-family homes. You can also choose for them to empty your bin curbside either once a week or every other week. When you run out of compostable liners for the bin, you can simply order more from their website. They will drop them off with your next pick-up. Black Earth also offers textile and yard waste pick-up services, which you can schedule on their website. The compost created from your food waste is available for purchase as well.
As a born and bred city girl, I truly could not believe how easy composting could be for my family! We have a small compost bin with a lid that sits on our kitchen counter (or you can put it under the sink) that we fill with food scraps as we cook and while we are cleaning up after a meal. Once that small bin is full, I transfer the contents to the Black Earth bin that I keep outside on my back deck. Their bin is tightly sealed and I have yet not had any issues with odor or animals. Then when my pick-up day arrives, I bring the bin out to the curb and the truck comes by to empty it. Rinse and repeat.
